“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

               -Proverbs 4:23

The choices you make on a day-to-day basis are always influenced to some extent by the condition of your heart. As Solomon reminded us in this wonderful passage of Scripture, the issues of life that require any kind of decision making at all will be affected by whether or not our heart is in its proper place, and it thus behooves each of us to guard it above all else with diligence.

So how does one actually go about guarding their heart? Well, the first step is in realizing that your own efforts simply won’t be enough and relying completely on God to do what you cannot. Ask Him to remove what does not belong and to “set a watch” on the doors of your lips and heart to keep them pure (Psalm 141:3), while always being careful to obey the exhortation of 2 Corinthians 10:5 by “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” When we make His will and His holiness and His blood the only filters of our heart, we can then rest fully in the promise of Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

               -Ezekiel 36:26

Once we see the human heart as it truly is, salvation by works will appear to us precisely as it appears to God: impossible. We can do nothing to save ourselves, but instead must put our faith fully in Christ and His atoning sacrifice in order to obtain redemption. It is only then that the blackness of our heart can be washed white as snow, and the righteousness we seek be imputed to our account (Isaiah 1:18; II Corinthians 5:21).