Title Above all else, guard your heart!
1. Introduction
In the Chinese Bible, the text “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the wellspring of life” is called “守本眞心 心乃生命之源” in the Chinese Bible. Keep your original heart, that is, your true heart. This means that the heart is the source of life.
2. What is the mind?
*There is a saying, “My soul, keep your hope in God alone Psalm 62:5”. If you meditate on these words deeply, there is my soul, and there is <something> that says to my soul, <my soul!>. That <something> is the heart.
According to Kerry Collins, the mind is the totality of our human mental activities, including human thinking, learning, will, awareness, concentration, memory, thought, emotion, insight, and enlightenment. The mind accepts the senses. It has the ability to interpret. The mind decides. The mind can control thoughts, which in turn influences behavior.
* In his famous book <Seongagugam>, Ambassador Seosan would like to express his feelings like this. The mind is inherently infinitely bright and spiritual, never born and never died. There is no way to name it, and there is no way to draw a shape. However, if I had to say anything, he said that I would only draw <O> as a symbol of the member's award.
*Victor Frankl quoted in his book <The God of the Unconscious> that even though I sleep, my heart is awake, but I can hear the voice of my loved one (Song 5:2). It is said that it is something that is awake and is in charge. In other words, it is a personal inner subject that presides over a person's body, mind, spirit, consciousness, unconsciousness, and all existence itself.
The mind is undefinable medically, psychologically, or religiously, but it is clearly something divine that lives and claims to each person. If you dare to find a biblical expression, you can say that the heart is the image of God, the breath of God, or the breath of God.
3. So, what does it mean to guard the heart?
Human beings are constantly stimulated by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and touch, and their emotions and feelings change moment by moment like boiling water in a pot. Therefore, it is a being who works for three days, a person who apostates, apostates, and forgets the first love. Therefore, my heart is an existence that I do not know. It is a creature whose thoughts change from time to time. It is an ever-changing entity.
Therefore, guarding the heart is not being affected by such circumstances, and it is the <awakening> that one's own inner determination, one's beliefs, the direction to go, the first intention, one's mind and spirit, is constantly pushing toward that spiritual and spiritual purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ---
Therefore, <guarding the heart> is also connected with the words of a strong sense of history, discipline, a clear outlook on life, and a clear self-philosophy. In this sense, Professor Jo Ji-hoon in <志操論> said that Jijo is a burning belief to keep a pure spirit, tearful devotion, clear determination, and noble struggle. Guarding our hearts means that each of us is constantly reminding ourselves that we are on the right track toward our own path, mission, and goal, and living as it is <Awakening of the mind>.
4. How can we guard our hearts?
first. I need to fill my heart with the Word of God. When you read God's Word wholeheartedly, listen to it, and live it as it is, you can protect your heart well. If the Word of God leaves me, I myself will lose my heart and wander. For your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
second. I must strive to pray, be silent, and meditate so that my heart does not waver. Because prayer and meditation are the water pipes through which God's power, God's energy, and God's wisdom are supplied.
third. No matter how difficult the reality is, I have to bravely take one step at a time towards the path I need to take. Don't get caught up in your emotions or your surroundings or put it off until the next day. No matter how small the beginning, no matter how small the action, I have to make it a reality in my concrete life.
5. Closing Story
Guarding your heart is not an easy task. To guard your heart means to cut your heart with a sword. That is, be patient. The character 忍 to endure means to cut the heart with a knife. cut your heart with a knife? What does it mean?
It hurts even if you cut the flesh with a knife, but cutting the heart with a knife is even more difficult. It is so difficult and difficult to keep your heart. But let us guard our hearts. Because he said that the source of life is here. What all people who have received great blessings in life have in common is that they all <kept their hearts!>. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Amen.
Word Fountain Church