First Church Charlotte

November, 8 2020 | Pastor Nathan Elms The word 'heart' refers to the inner life. What the writer of Proverbs is talking about here is the life of the soul. You might say, “Well, only God can keep my heart.” That is like the farmer saying, “Only God can make my harvest grow,” and so he sits around twiddling his thumbs. Here God gives us a command, an active duty. This is something that God calls his people to do. When you become a Christian, God gives you a new heart, a heart that loves God, a heart that trusts God. If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come. But God also says to us: "Keep your heart!" The primary focus of the eye of God is fixed first on your heart. And the problem of the heart is God’s complaint against his people. No one shows this better than the prophet Malachi; he speaks for the Lord and makes 7 complaints against the House of Israel. All seven of spring from a single problem—they have lost their heart for God. Further, Jesus in his famous S