“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).

There’s a saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Somewhere else is better than here. Even if you like your job, there’s a better-paying, more fulfilling career. There’s always a “better” church, a nicer house, more understanding friends, and maybe even a more loving husband or wife.

“Wherever you go, there you are.”

My Grandpap had another saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.” It’s so obvious, it’s silly! But when you apply it to yourself, it’s humbling and uncomfortably true: Wherever YOU go, there YOU are. When you chase down the green grass on the other side and then decide it’s not all that green, what was the one thing that stayed the same? What is the one constant in every part of your life? YOU! What are people looking for as they jump from relationship to relationship, job to job, town to town? Why do similar problems keep showing up? And what does God say about all this?

The Wellspring

God inspired wise King Solomon to teach us a principle powerful enough to alter the course of our lives. In this one phrase, he showed the way to better marriages, better work, a better life, and a better eternity: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).

Your life comes from your heart! You can switch out the people and situations around you, but that won’t solve the problems within you. And what’s within you will flow out and all around you.

A lot of what happens all around us starts right inside us.

As kids, we jumped through sprinklers in the summer until they soaked us. This proverb pictures your heart like that sprinkler spraying all over your life, a wellspring of good and bad. Wherever we go, we shape our lives in ways we may never realize. You can cross the ocean, but you’re still there. And with you comes your attitudes, your desires, your thinking, and all your baggage. This is the real stuff that forms your life.

If you’re not content with your life now, you probably won’t be after a raise. If you’re suspicious, jealous, angry, or resentful now, you won’t create rich, trusting friendships, no matter how often you change out the people. A lot of what happens all around us starts right inside us.

When we first got married, Adrienne didn’t like her job. She worked at a daycare and disliked the hours, the pay, and the culture. One day, I told her, “I just got a raise, and you don’t have to work anymore.” Suddenly, her job wasn’t that bad. She came home happy, telling stories about the kids. Did her job change? No, her heart changed.

Jesus probably considered this verse when he described our hearts as the source of our words and actions. He said your words come from your heart (Matt. 15:18), and sin comes from your heart (Matt. 15:19). James explains how the passions at war within us can destroy our relationships (Jam. 4:1-3).

So what can you do? Take responsibility for your life by taking responsibility for your heart. Look at the stream of your life and recognize that your heart is the spring that sources the stream. The beauty of this principle is that wherever you go, there’s an opportunity to build character in your heart. With all its trouble, life is the perfect context for heart work (Rom. 5:3-4).

Bible meditation is like dropping a passage into the well of your heart, letting it saturate and cleanse the waters that flow there.

Mopping Up Your Heart

There are three distinct meanings of the word “keep” (Prov. 4:23). When we put the three together, we get a complete picture of how to keep your heart. As a mnemonic device, let’s call it “mopping up” your heart, where the acronym M.O.P. refers to Maintaining, Observing, and Protecting.

1. To “keep” requires us to maintain. Like your car, your heart doesn’t operate properly without regularly scheduled maintenance. We do maintenance by bringing our hearts under the renewing influence of God, reflecting on His Word, and meeting him in prayer (Rom. 12:2). Bible meditation is like dropping a passage into the well of your heart, letting it saturate and cleanse the waters that flow there. Confession and repentance are ongoing acts of maintenance that flow from our observation.

Most of the time, people have no idea what they’re doing or why they’re doing it!

2. To “keep” requires us to observe. Pay attention to your heart. Most of the time, people have no idea what they’re doing or why they’re doing it! I may think, “I know myself.” But do I really (Jer. 17:9)? I might survey my life and ask, “How could this happen to me?” while someone watching wonders, “How could that NOT happen to you, the way you approach life?” Christ told his disciples to “watch themselves,” emphasizing the dangers that could prey on their hearts if they fell asleep (Luke 21:34,36). If confession cleanses (1 Jn. 1:8-10), how do we know what to confess without observing the heart?

3. To “keep” requires us to protect. Watch what you feed your heart, and be wary of evil influences in the media you consume and the people surrounding you (Ps. 1:1-2). If you aim to protect your heart, you’ll stay so far from those influences that they will never contaminate the spring. Protect your heart from its deceitfulness (Jer. 17:9). At a young age, romance can lead us down a road faster and farther than we want. Be circumspect and smart.

Pray for God to show you where your spring flows clean and where it’s muddy or poisoned.

Could you find time this week to quietly take inventory of your heart? Pray for God to show you where your spring flows clean and where it’s muddy or poisoned. When the world sees us, do they see healthy hearts? Do they see a group that rejoices without ceasing, loves without reservation, gives without expecting a return, and lives without resentment? Nobody goes through life without getting hurt and disappointed, but we have the tools to keep our hearts pure and work through our problems with God. If we can keep our hearts, the goodness that will spring from within us will not only transform our lives but will change lives around us. Others will come to drink from that well. People will want to know what gives us this refreshment, and we can say, “I have a God, and He has a Son, and He wants you to know his spring of living water” (John 7:37-38).