A Powerful Well...

Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life."

In beautiful Acadia National Park in Maine, there is a spectacular little ocean inlet carved naturally out of the rocks, which the waves roll into. At the end of this inlet, is a small cavern where, when the rush of the waves arrive, air and water are forced out with a sound like a clap of thunder. The water explodes at times as high as 40 feet.

It is a powerful well.

The bible speaks of the heart of being such a well. The heart is powerful… it is explosive. It motivates all our behaviors. How we behave is a reflection first and foremost of our hearts

Mark 7:20-23

[20] And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Luke 6:45, corroborates.

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart. The evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart the mouth speaks."

It follows then that if hearts are such powerful formative things, then they have to be authentic, and that authenticity has to be an authenticity that is right with God.

And our hearts have to be authentically right with one another as members of the body of Christ. I have to see my heart clearly; I have to communicate my heart clearly to you,

I also have to see your heart clearly, and you have to communicate your heart clearly to me.

Everything in successful relationships is about the heart.

Now when I say heart, what would most people think of? Emotions? Feelings? Sincerity? Hard work and best intentions?

Nothing so mundane as any of these. The Bible talks about the heart in much more profound ways, not the least of which is Proverbs 4:23

Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life."

So here are some scenarios… 

1. A wife is nagging  yet again…

2. or a husband is ignoring yet again… 

3. or our child is once again refusing to honor your discipline in epic ways… 

4. or you are treating someone else horribly or being treated horribly yourself...

5. 
   

These are bad behaviors for sure, but is behavior the real problem in each of these situations?... or isn't behavior  just a symptom of something else… as in the natural outworking of the heart?

behavior is important, yes. It may be  unacceptable. It's often annoying. It maybe  downright dangerous. But behavior is not the core issue our sins.

And if we change behavior without changing the heart, then what does that make us? 

hypocrites. Changing behavior without an underlying change of heart makes you and me a hypocrite.

And if you can change someone else’s behavior (say a child or a spouse) without changing the heart, then what does that make you? A manipulator.

And here is the rub: unrepentant Hypocrites dont go to heaven, and neither do unrepentant manipulators 

And so just changing behavior is not what the bible is about.

Captured hearts that want to do what is right becuse they are thankful and they want to honor the spirit who lives in them and the Christ who bought their freedom... those are what go to heaven. And thats what the bible is about.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life.

Jesus has intense condemnation for us and our children when obedience happens on the surface, but the heart isn’t captured.

What does Jesus call the Pharisees who were this kind of hypocrites? Not sons of God, but Sons of their father the Devil

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life."

We have to understand the motivations of our heart, and the motivations of the other persons heart if we really want to receive blessings from God - if we really would be like Jesus.

Being a Christian is like being a detective…. 

And our call this morning from the reading of the law is to unmask the deepest heart levels of sin that we can. We can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

#sundaymorningservice reading of the law notes