What is the Wellspring of Life? For a Jesus follower, that would be Him–Jesus!
But the phrase, wellspring of life, comes from the Old Testament.
“Above all else guard your heart; for it is the wellspring of life.” So, what does above really mean here? To me it means that this guarding of the heart is my number 1 priority. In the past, because my heart shut down, this was just another wise saying. Now it has meaning and it is an important principle that Jesus followers should take seriously.
What does guard imply or assume? That there is something to guard against. We do have an Enemy. He is hunting us–specifically to shut down our hearts.
I have to admit that I struggle with the concept of guarding my heart, why? Because I know that sin comes from within. But 1 John does tell us that, in addition to our own flesh, we battle against the world, its values, and the Devil.
This leads me to ask, what makes my/your heart worth fighting for above all else?
I’ll let you answer that one.
Meditate on all this. Is your heart worth guarding and protecting? Are the hearts of those around you worth guarding and protecting? I believe they are! In fact, based on this verse and all of scripture, I KNOW they are.
I want to explore with you this year your heart and my heart and discover why God values the human heart as much as he does.
To do that we need to go more in depth into the 4 themes of The Lord of the Rings trailer. We need to explore our hearts more to find out what actually is down there. By learning about our hearts as God has defined them, we may become more sensitive to God’s heart and how He communicates to us at a heart level. This can be so exciting to come into more intimate communication with the Creator and Lord.
Blessing!
Lord of the Rings Trailer Part 1
Related articles
- Guarding Your Heart (loiswise.wordpress.com)
- Finding God in the Lord of the Rings (LR) (goodnewsnow.wordpress.com)
- Protect Your Heart (countingmyblessings.typepad.com)
Jan 19, 2013 @ 03:57:41
I would add to your discussion that in Hebrew culture “Heart” usually refers to the thinking (“The fool has said in their heart…”). Kidneys are the feeling metaphor. So do our outbursts of sin flow from our feelings, our thoughts, both? What do we fill our minds with these days? Questionable info? Divine teachings? Blessings on you for what you do through this blog.
Jan 20, 2013 @ 03:26:16
I have struggled with how to represent the non-physical human heart! I know thoughts, choices, emotions, and desires are involved. I am going with those components for now. Given, my own struggles over the last year, I know in my heart–attitudes play a big role in either glorifying God or, and in my case where I learned so much about my heart, a besetting sin. I had an attitude towards my boss that kept tripping me up. It was not until I realized that I had this negative attitude that I began to deal with the heart issue. I had to release it. I did release it in prayer, but I had to do more. God lead me to go to her and to say things to her that were directly contrary to my wrong attitudes. I didn’t confess specific things to her–they were unspoken of course. But, saying those encouraging, positive things sealed the repentance of my heart to God, making my attitudes ultimately change towards her. Wonderful release!!!
Jan 20, 2013 @ 03:37:29
Thanks so much for the comments.
Jan 20, 2013 @ 03:51:48
Wow! This is exactly what I promote; it is the doing something about the problem, the fixing it (when possible) that produces eternal results and earthly peace. Praise God!