March 17: GUARD YOUR HEART

We too often treat our spiritual condition like the Soviet defense blunder of a few years ago. In June 1989 a 19-year-old German named Mathias Rust created quite a stir when he flew a Cessna 172 airplane more than 400 miles into Soviet airspace. Rust's five-hour trip ended when he landed his plane near the Kremlin in Moscow. Soviet officials then scrambled to find out how a teenager could slip past their air defenses.

Apparently radar had picked up the craft, but it was presumed to be a Soviet plane and no attempt was made to identify it. Later, air force jets twice flew around the intruding Cessna. The investigation concluded that air defense commanders showed an inexplicable lack of concern and indecision regarding the flight of the invading plane short of military action.

—http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/rust.html, retrieved May 24, 2013.

Like those Soviet defenders, we sometimes fail to cut short temptations which invade our minds. But these intruders are far from harmless; they can destroy a life. If we are not careful, we may, likewise, ignore the infiltration of our spiritual being, until the enemy has well-established himself in our life.

There are a number of ways we must go about guarding our lives. Over the next few days, we will identify twelve of these areas of our lives which we must guard.

As the writer of this Proverb reminds us, from our heart, or our innermost being, flow the various issues of life. We cannot afford to have our heart breached by the enemy so that we are destroyed from within. We must guard every gate of our heart, being very alert to everything and everyone who desires to gain entrance and exit from our heart.

It does little good to guard the gates of a city, if the walls are broken down. There is little point in rebuilding the walls, if the houses and temple are in a shamble inside the city. The temple holds very limited value, if there is no altar. So, the altar is essential to the entire rebuilding of the city.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)

THINK ABOUT IT.
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