Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

“Watch your heart!” That’s the caution my wife will sometimes give me when I complain too much about a situation I don’t like or a person who is getting under my skin. My wife is a wise lady.

She knows that when we keep a grudge or harbor a resentment, Satan can use that “heart disease” to cause our heart to harden. And the devil knows that a hard heart, unless softened by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and sacraments, is fatal.

Why is a hard heart so serious? Because the heart is “the well-spring of life.” When our heart is hardened, the flow of life in us gets clogged up. We turn a deaf ear to God and close our eyes to His mercy. When we have a hard heart, we reject God and everything He wants to give us.

Praise God that Jesus has given us His heart to replace our heart of stone. He submitted to a “heart transplant” on the cross, and died from the consequences of our hard-heartedness.

With Christ’s new heart living in us, we can now receive all the blessings God has for us and share those blessings with others. We can enjoy the refreshing wellspring of life flowing within, and refresh those around us with the Good News of His love.

As Jesus said in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scrip-ture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Prayer

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take my heart of stone and give me a new heart of flesh. Thank You for the wellspring of life that now refreshes me every day.

Daily Reading: Proverbs 19

– Contributed by Pastor Stephen Moser