Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: Two Paths
Preacher: Jenniffer Ogden
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Proverbs 4:1-27 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
I have a theory. I don’t think it’s a very popular theory, especially with teens and young people in their early 20’s. I suspect my theory would be popular with dads and moms.
Here’s my theory. In the US, the way we find our significant other is to date each other. We establish a relationship, fall in love—often giving our heart and body away—and then break up. We keep falling in love and breaking up until we find one that we think we can make a marriage out of.
The problem is, by the time we get married we have established a pattern of giving our heart and body away, falling in love and then—you guessed it—breaking up when things don’t work out.
I think this is a broken way to find a soul mate. By buying into this system of dating and breaking up, we are conditioning ourselves toward relationship failure. It’s certainly no way to guard your heart.
When the wisdom writer admonishes his student to guard his heart, he is speaking in a broader sense than just about love relationships. Jesus (in Mark 7 and Matthew 15) eludes to this bit of wisdom when He tells His listeners that it’s not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean, but what comes out of the heart.
So how do we guard our hearts?
In the Bible, the heart is another term for the mind and controller of our emotions, our actions and the determiner of our values. In order to guard our mind I think we need to guard what goes into it. I’m not being prudish here, but seriously, anything we do that stands against the Kingdom has to have first been allowed into our mind, to marinate and brew into the possibility of coming out in the form of an action.
Just as true is the idea that if we feed our minds Kingdom-building things, Kingdom-building characteristics will spill out of our hearts into Kingdom-building actions.
Jesus said it in another way. He said, “By their fruits you shall know them. Good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit.”
Recalibrate: How do you choose what you will and won’t feed your heart? Do you make that conscious choice?
Respond: Pray these words: “Create in my a clean heart, Oh God.”
Research: Read What “Guarding Your Heart” Actually Means.
Remember: “I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths” (Proverbs 4:11, ICB).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Go for a walk with your little one around your home or your neighborhood in search of all things good. Take your phone or camera with you and take a photo of what you find. It can be as simple as a flower or even a smile from a person you pass in the street. We find what we are looking for, so look for what is good and fill your world with that.
Have you ever been given money for your birthday, for an allowance, or for doing a job? What did you do with the money? Did you save it or spend it? If you saved it, what did you save it for? If you spent it, what did you spend it on? Proverbs 4:7-8 says, “Wisdom is the most important thing. So get Wisdom. If it costs everything you have, get understanding. Believe in the value of wisdom, and it will make you great.” What do you think the most expensive thing in your house is? Can you believe that the Bible tells us that Wisdom is worth even more than the house you live in or the car you drive?
In Proverbs 4:6-9, Solomon returns back to this idea that wisdom is not merely an object, but an actual person. Again, Wisdom is a “she” and Solomon is leaving instructions on how best to treat her once you have found her. His wisdom for us in treating Wisdom well is the same advice you would give anyone if they were trying to harbor a good, solid, long-term relationship with a best friend. And I will be honest with you, these requirements are not always easy to follow.
Think for a moment about your best friend. Have you ever been in an argument with them? It stings even worse when your best friend says something unkind about you because they are so very close to you and hold your respect and admiration. It can also be crushing to hear your friend point out something you need to work on because you know they are right. The truth hurts.
Solomon tells us to keep Wisdom close and she will always take care of us as we take care of her. But he doesn’t say that her friendship will be easy or always a delight. Sometimes keeping Wisdom around means constantly being willing to grow as she teaches us new things about ourselves.
She’s a loyal friend. She’s an honest friend. She’s a tough critic. She’s the best friend you’ll ever have.
Has anyone ever told you to guard your heart? That has always created a funny word picture to me! What does it really mean? What I have learned is that my heart begins to look like the things I focus on. If I focus too much on work, I begin to have a heart that is critical and hurried. If I focus too much on “chilling,” my heart begins to get careless. If I focus too much on clothes or “stuff,” my heart starts to get selfish. What I know now is that guarding my heart starts with my eyes and my time. If I focus on something for too long—even if it is good—I start to waiver and my heart begins to harden. Guard your heart. Guard your eyes and your time. Be intentional about how you use your time and what you focus on. You will be a more peaceful person and you will begin to have more time than ever!
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Jessyka Dooley is assistant youth director for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Denver, Colorado.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Kyle Smith is the associate pastor of youth and family ministries at New Haven Adventist Church in Overland Park, Kansas.