| The Christian Life | July 1947 |
Purity of heart essential to Christian steadfastness
Keep Thy Heart
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”—Proverbs 4:23
IN OUR text we have important instructions from our Heavenly Father to us his children of the Gospel age—the new creation. In this text the heart is used in a symbolic sense, the physical heart being symbolic of the seat of affections—our desires, motives, and ambitions. As these are based upon our thoughts, the heart also, and in a broader sense, symbolizes our thoughts, our minds. Our affections are actually seated in the mind.
It is the symbolic heart which we are admonished to guard lest it lead the body into difficulties, and even into destruction. By nature it desires everything that satisfies the senses. If it should he left free it would know no bounds, but like an immature person suddenly coming into wealth, would desire everything it saw or could imagine.
But the “heart” must be guarded, and must be trained just as a child is trained to do the will of the father. Our Heavenly Father sets various guards to train and keep our hearts, and we should use these in accordance with his will and boundless wisdom. The “guards” which God provides are his admonitions, his chastenings, and his Spirit. These are given to his children for their correction and protection. The Psalmist expresses this thought, saying, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing.”—Psalm 141:3,4
Just as the Law was a “schoolmaster”—a trainer of children, a pedagogue—to prepare the Jews to, accept Christ (Gal. 3:24); so for the Christian, God’s Word contains admonitions, instructions in righteousness, corrections, reproofs, that. “the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (II Tim. 3:16,17) We could not exactly know what would be best for us as new creatures, but our Father, who knows the end from the beginning, tells us in his Word what to do under all circumstances. It is important, therefore, that we should be well acquainted with his Word (Col. 3:16), that we may know what is his will, and as far as possible know what to do in a given experience.—Psa. 119:92
In the first Psalm we are told that the man whose “delight is in the law of the Lord,” and who meditates in it day and night, “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” A tree thus planted does not lack the necessary moisture in the heat of the summer in order to develop its fruit in due time. Likewise the man of God who meditates in the Law of God will always be informed of the will of Jehovah, and even under difficulties he will not find it hard to discern what to do, as would be the case if he did not study God’s Word.
A Pure Heart
The purpose of guarding the heart is to keep it pure, because, according to the declaration of our Lord Jesus, the pure in heart “shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8) We are living in a world that is at enmity with God. Its works are the works of darkness. Daily we are coming in contact with people whose minds and words and actions are tending to influence us to do as they do. It is necessary, therefore, that we are well armed with the mind of Christ to do only the will of God. We should allow only those thoughts that are in harmony with the Lord and with the things of the Lord, to occupy our minds and attention. We should treasure up in our minds those thoughts that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy, from the standpoint of God.(Phil. 4:8) If we do this we store up a good treasure which will manifest itself in our words and actions.
God’s thoughts are pure (Psalm 119:140), and his ways are righteous, and his works holy. (Psalm 145:17) As we observe our Father’s dealings with his friends, with his enemies, with his servants and his children; with the transgressors and with the obedient, we learn his character. We see him glorious in every respect. And as we contemplate his glory, as it is manifested in his dealings, we should endeavor to imitate his ways. Thus will we be changed from glory to glory by the influence of his Holy Spirit.—II Cor. 3:18
It is important that we have the right understanding of our Father’s character; for if in any way we have a wrong conception of his character, the result will he reflected in our ways and character, and we shall find it difficult to keep our hearts pure and holy that they may be the temple of the Lord. Guarding our hearts in this respect we shall not “lose those things which we have wrought,” but we shall “receive a full reward.” (II John 8) In other words, the true doctrine of God’s Word is important and necessary in order to have a proper view of our Father’s character, which so beautifully shines in his plan for the salvation of the world through the redemption in Christ Jesus.
Of ourselves we shall never he able to understand God as he is. No one knows who God, “the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” (Luke 10:22) The Son is our Master, our Teacher, who has revealed the Father. “He hath declared [interpreted] him.” (John 1:18) If we lack understanding in this matter and make our wants known unto him “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving … the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 4:6,7
“Hearts Grown Fat”
It is possible for our minds to become stupefied so as to receive no reproofs, and the Word of God to have no effect upon us. It is possible to have heard the Word of God, and instead of applying it to oneself, say: “Well, that is my nature, I cannot help that; everyone has some weakness; this is my weakness, and no one has the right to judge me. I attend meetings regularly. I help the work financially now and then. I must be good enough in the sight of the Lord. He should be satisfied with me.”
This condition of heart indicates satisfaction with the progress made and will impede further progress along the line of “cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (II Cor. 7:1) The children of Israel, in the days of our Lord’s first advent, seem to have been satisfied with their condition of the worship of Jehovah according to the traditions of the fathers. Because of this, Jehovah’s messages fell on deaf ears. That condition was foretold through the Prophet Isaiah and applied by our Lord to the people of his day, saying: “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross [fat, and lacking quick understanding], and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed [pretending that they do not see]; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart [intellect], and should be converted [change their condition of self-satisfaction], and I should heal them.”—Matt. 13:14,15
When Jesus visited the western shores of the Sea of Galilee, and the Pharisees were “seeking of him a sign from heaven,” which he refused to give, he charged his disciples, saying: “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod, and of the Sadducees.” Luke explains in chapter 12:1, that leaven is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees evidently represents religious hypocrisy, while the hypocrisy or leaven of Herod and the Sadducees, the party favored by the Roman government, therefore the ruling, or political party, would appear to represent political hypocrisy.—Mark 8:10-18; Matt. 16:6
In effect Jesus warned his disciples to keep their hearts from adopting a similar procedure in their dealings with their brethren as these hypocrites were doing in religious, civil, and in business matters. He wanted them to be honest and have faith in God, and their lives as his followers to be marked by simplicity. They did not understand, and thought he was talking about literal bread. From what followed, it is evident that he expected them to understand, for he severely criticized them, saying: “Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?” He reminded them of the two recent miracles by which he fed five thousand and four thousand people respectively, and asked them how it was that they did not understand that he was not talking about bread. This served to make them understand that he was talking about doctrines.—Matt. 16:12
These things were not written simply that we may know the condition of the hearts of the people in those days, but were written that we may learn to protect our own hearts against the evil tendencies of the deceitful mind of the flesh. Particularly for us who live in the last days of the Gospel age is written the following admonition: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at anytime your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34) We are living in the days of the presence of the Son of man and are looking forward to appearing with him in glory. Shall we allow our hearts to become dull with the cares of this life, so as not to discern the multiplied signs which indicate that our deliverance draweth nigh?
If we allow our hearts to become hardened, and we still love the Lord, he will bring about experiences—because he loves us—to break the hardened heart, and destroy the causes that brought about that unsatisfactory condition, and thus bring us around to the condition of a contrite heart, when we can pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”—Psalm 51:10,17
The Heart May Be Strengthened
A condition of faint-heartedness that may be due to a lack of faith and proper information of the Word of God is like a sickness that needs a stimulant. There is no better stimulant to the weak in heart, the weak in faith, concerning the coming kingdom of God and the blessing of the people therein, than the assurance that the Lord is here. The mental assurance of that fact will stimulate faith to action, will revive and strengthen the weak to face the darts of the Adversary with courage. James prescribes that medicine when he says: “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming [presence] of the Lord draweth nigh.”—James 5:8
The same sort of medicine is prescribed by Paul for some in his day who were apt to be carried away with divers and strange doctrines due to mental weakness or lack of information concerning God’s purposes as they are revealed in his Word, saying: “For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” (Heb. 13:9) Grace is the effect of the Holy Spirit upon those who apply God’s Word to themselves, who make its instructions their own and act in harmony therewith. Jesus was “full of grace and truth,” and as we try to follow in his footsteps, we receive of his fullness of grace.—John 1:14,16
God Knows the Heart
Our physical hearts are hidden behind skin and bones, yet our words and our actions indicate what is in our symbolic hearts, in our minds. It is a principle declared by our Lord Jesus, that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” (Matt. 12:34; Luke 6:45) This thought should make us very careful what we entertain in our minds, what we meditate on concerning this or that brother or sister, concerning the people we come in contact with in our daily tasks, and concerning God; for sooner or later the thoughts we entertain will find an expression through our words. Even the very careful person will find it difficult to avoid at all times expressing what is in his mind.
The Christian by his words and actions becomes an object of careful examination by those with whom he comes in contact. Paul calls attention to this by saying: “Ye are our epistle [letter] … known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”—II Cor. 3:2,3
Even though we may be successful in hiding what is in our minds from some of our fellow Christians and others, we cannot hide our thoughts from God. If we are properly instructed in the Word of God and know what is good and what is evil in the sight of the Lord, we would know if a thought entertained in our hearts is good or bad, for our hearts give us a feeling or a sense of approval or disapproval, a justification or condemnation, a consciousness of right or wrong.
This is what John means when he says: “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence [boldness] toward God.” (I John 3:20,21) Our God has formed our power of reason and understanding and therefore he is able to know what is in our hearts. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Of our Lord Jesus also it is written, “I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.”—Heb. 4:12,13; Rev. 2:23
When we notice that there is in our hearts a thought that will not be approved of the Lord, we should make haste to change it before it is put into action. The Lord will approve of the effort to cleanse our hearts of any evil thought, and will give us grace to do so in every time of need, if we ask him.
“The Issues of Life”
The word issue is used in a great variety of ways. In our text, according to the margin of the Rotherham translation, it means “the origin and the direction.” In ether words, it means according to the kind of thoughts that we will entertain, sow, and cultivate, or meditate upon and harbor, so shall our lives be in the present as well as in the future. Our lives will he directed according as our thoughts will be; and the outcome, the final direction, whether for life or death, depends upon the thoughts we cultivate and put into action today.
Brethren, let us watch our hearts, our motives in everything we do, that it may be done to the glory of God. “Good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple,” (Rom. 16:18) but they do not offer real advantage to those that use such methods, for the Lord will not reward with the kingdom glory any selfish person, seeking merely personal temporary advantages.
Absalom was one of those who tried to take the kingdom of Israel by a similar method. He succeeded in “stealing the hearts of the people” away from his father, but succumbed himself to the folly of his youthful advisers, ending in disaster. God is to be trusted in all things, and if we do all things as unto the Lord, let us leave the results with him. Our hearts, our minds, our consciences, should always be clear before God and men, “and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 4:7
(Translated from the Greek)