At some point, we’ve all thought, said, or done something we wish we had not thought, said, or done. Why? In all likelihood, you would answer, “the reason why I think or act this way is because of others, some people just cause me to lose it.” To which Jesus would say, “no, the reason you think and act that way is that you have a heart problem.”

Jesus said, “for out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.” In essence, he was saying, I know where your evil thoughts and behaviors come from, they come from within you, there in your heart. Think about it, in order for something to come out of you it must first be in you. The thing is that we’ve become experts at hiding what’s inside of us. But when the pressure rises, our heart problems manifest themselves and we end up hurting ourselves and the people around us.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Ignoring a problem is never a good idea, the things we ignore never get better they only get worse. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Solomon admonishes us to guard our hearts. The second reason is that what’s in your heart for good or bad will determine the course of your life.

Above everything we do, we should become watchmen of our hearts, nothing should be more important. Because everything we do, think or say will come from our hearts. We must learn to guard our hearts against all contaminants. I’ll mention four of the most prevalent and persistent ones: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. If we allow these to enter our hearts when the pressure of life rises they will manifest themselves in ways we can’t even imagine.

The best way to guard against guilt is to seek forgiveness. The best way to guard against anger is to ask for forgiveness. The best way to guard against greed is to be a giver. And the best way to guard against jealousy is to celebrate what others have.