Reflection
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
Proverbs 4:23
Reflection
One of the most profound things about Jesus and the way he lived his life is that he loved every person he met. That was a scandal to some, especially those who considered themselves to be the most religious and faithful. Some religious experts in Jesus’s day were steeped in the tradition of religious laws having to do with avoiding people who were not to be included or welcomed. Jesus, by contrast, included and welcomed all. Some of the religious leaders of Jesus’s day were unwilling to lay down their pride and self-righteousness and receive grace and forgiveness from God. Sometimes we might struggle with similar pride.
Long before the days when Jesus walked this earth as God-incarnate, the Holy Scriptures already contained some wonderful passages that can guide us toward an understanding that it isn’t who or what’s around us that determines whether our heart (or soul) is pure. It’s about whether we make our home at the center of who God is.
Sometimes people might read Proverbs 4:23 and conclude that it’s paramount we guard against being around people who might have a bad influence on us. To be clear, we do have to keep in mind that people we spend time with might exert powerful influence on our lives. Yet, too often we can forget that when we look down our noses at someone else’s faith, such a perspective displays more about us than them. Spiritual arrogance is a particularly troublesome thing, because built right into such a perspective is a blind spot about our own imperfections, mistakes, and sometimes downright mean-spirited actions.
Perhaps having a pure heart has more to do with bravely scrutinizing of our own soul, rather than being sure to keep certain people out of our lives. True, if we’re experiencing a particularly vulnerable time and might be swayed or tempted in ways we can’t handle, then we should remove ourselves from some situations. However, in general, avoidance is not what heals a wound; rather, it can cause it to fester.
It’s difficult to be healed from things we’re unwilling to acknowledge. Perhaps the most insidious part of thinking too highly of ourselves is that it quickly becomes like a contest, and we’ve already prejudged ourselves as the winner. With God, there are no contests, only grace freely given by God in love, and grace received in us through faith. Question: Who needs grace? Answer: All of us.
In Jesus’ day, some of the religious leaders were adamant about insisting that what goes into a person’s body is what can defile them. Jesus had a way of getting right down to something more central and primary than just what a person ate or drank–or who they hung around with. Jesus even sometimes asked a person he was about to heal what they wanted. That might seem like a strangely basic question because someone who’s been ill or infirm for many years obviously desires physical healing. Yet, Jesus’s question gets to the core of what it means to come to Jesus in faith. Coming to Jesus in faith means being willing to face what’s inside us and being brave enough to pursue some hard questions about ourselves. Part of what it means to “guard your heart” is to be courageous enough to wrestle with that stop-you-in-your-tracks question Jesus is asking you: “What do you want me to do for you?” In other words, what is the healing you really need?
Guarding our hearts—looking deeply at ourselves and making it a regular practice to center ourselves in the love of Christ—can be challenging. But here’s the great news: It’s never too late! Some of the most holy moments I’ve had with people I’ve provided pastoral counseling for in my ministry have come when I was blessed enough to be the one to tell them that they don’t have to live in shame about what they’ve done in the past or how they’ve been rejecting God’s grace until now. What matters is that they want to begin answering this powerful question: What do you want Jesus to do for you? Or perhaps, more to the point: What do you want Jesus to do in you?
Prayer
Almighty God, we praise you and thank you for your grace. We thank you for the gift of wisdom that comes from Holy Scripture. We thank you for those portions of Proverbs that speak to our heart. O God, we thank you for the way that Jesus, who knew the Hebrew scriptures and held them deep in his heart, teaches us to look honestly at ourselves as we keep our life centered in you. Amen.
