Be On Guard

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."
Proverbs 4:23

It's summer time! School is out, this is our last regular youth group meeting, and you will have three months to have fun, vacation, and take a break from the regular grind of school and homework. It's time to relax and to let your guard down a little, right?
That couldn't be more wrong.
The writer of Proverbs warns his son to guard his heart with great care and diligence. Of course, the idea of "our heart" doesn't mean just the organ that pumps blood through our body. Instead, it refers to our entire being: our thoughts, our desires, and our will. We must guard those things with the utmost caution.
Why must we guard our hearts? Because from our hearts come "the issues of life." Everything that we do, say, or think comes out of our hearts. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 15:19–20. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man." Oftentimes, we think that if we clean up our act, we will be fine. Jesus said that our sinful actions and words come from inside of us. They come from sinful hearts.
If we do not guard our hearts, our entire lives will be defiled by sin. The heart is the gateway to our entire lives. This summer, you need to guard your heart. You must love God supremely. You must love and obey his Word unconditionally. You must hate sin absolutely. You must guard your heart with all diligence this summer— your entire life depends on it.