Is it real?

Note to Self by Joe Thorn is a book that I now use as a daily devotional. Each day I will share the scripture passage and an expert from the book and a few of my own thoughts as part of my blog.

Scripture passage Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Section from the book

The call to keep your heart is a call to work on your life internally, not merely externally. The latter is easy; the former is much harder and more complicated. The religious or moral person will focus on the external and maintain good appearances, but it may have little to nothing to do with the heart. God is first and foremost concerned with your heart, for when you are keeping your heart, the rest of life follows.

To keep your heart means that your focus and work is on maintaining communion with God and pursuing the transformation that only God can accomplish in you. It is not performance-based religion, nor the moral improvement of your life, but the ongoing work of cultivating love for God and hatred for sin. It is the unending effort of guarding ourselves against idols while resting in the promises of the gospel.

Simple thoughts

God knows the heart, the question you need to ask yourself is how much time do you spend actually working on your heart and I’m not talking cardio here. You must ask yourself do you spend more time working on your actual heart or is your time spent making your outside look good when there is nothing on the inside? It’s much like today’s picture of an inflatable tank. Ever since there have been tanks militaries from all over the world have utilized fake, inflatable tanks to trick the enemy. To make them think there is more than there really is. Do you do that with your heart? Do you make it appear to be something that it’s not? Even though inflatable tanks may have tricked some over the years, God knows the heart. There is no tricking him the only one you are deceiving is you. Don’t spend your time working on your religion or even moral improvements. Spend it on your heart and considering the gospel is a good place to start.