Quick Fixes

There’s a story of a couple that moved into a house that needed some redecorating. Nothing major really, new carpet and new paint would make a huge difference. So the couple hired a painter to come to their house, patch the cracks, and paint the walls. When the painter finished everything looked as good as new. They happily paid the bill and thanked the painter for his great work. But less than a month later the cracks started to reappear. Soon, they were just as obvious as they had been before. They hired a new painter to come in and patch the cracks and paint the walls. The new painter assessed the problem and explained to the couple that he could patch the cracks, but it wouldn’t be long until the cracks were once again a problem. He explained, “Your real problem isn’t a crack in the wall. Your real problem is the foundation, and until you address the foundation the cracks will keep showing up.”

That’s often our approach to addressing the cracks in our lives. We want the easy fix. Just patch them up and paint over them. But have you noticed they have a tendency to come back? We may forget about them for a few weeks – but the cracks really haven’t gone away.

Eventually, over time, we see the effects of doing just patch work. By not dealing with the real issue,  the cracks will keep coming back. We never move on. We always feel stuck. We never grow up. By not dealing with real issue our lives will begin to look like this:

We look at this picture and ask – “why on earth wouldn’t the landlord fix the real issue?”

We spend a lot of time, money, and energy on quick fixes. Things that make us feel good in the moment.

That is really all idols can offer us : quick fixes.  We become a slave to the quick fix. We want  to microwave our problems. We want to google the answer to our issues. We want to cover up the real issue and hope it goes away. We look for something or someone to EASE our pain. We look for something or someone to make us FEEL better. We look for something or someone to make us FORGET about our life right now.

After a few weeks the same cracks appear again. The same issues come back up

So what’s the real issue? The issue is the condition of your heart!

Proverbs 4:23 reads, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Your heart defines and determines who you are, how you think, and what you do. Because everything flows from it, your heart is the battleground where the gods go to war,

The wisest and richest man who ever walked on planet earth – Solomon –  had everything. He had sex slaves. He had money. He had a palace.  He had power and position. He came to the same conclusion that Tom Brady did last week – there’s got to be more than this. Despite being the richest and most power man on the earth he says, “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

In other words, the condition of your heart is your greatest priority.Treat your heart like it’s your most valuable asset. According to the American Heart Association, more than 80 million people in the United States – that is more than one out of every four Americans – have some form of cardiovascular disease.Some
of you have had some problems with your physical heart – most of us at least
know someone who has had a heart attack or a stroke.  Once that happens, it changes how a person lives.  Those who deal with heart issues become more aware of protecting their heart. My dad, when he had heart health issues, was forced to lose 100 lbs. The doctor told him to or die. Those of you who know of your heart problem are committed to doing anything and everything that would protect your heart.  Why? Because there is a sudden realization that nothing matters more than the health of your heart.

Our tendency is to give attention to what people see. As long as things look good on the outside then we tend to not give much concern to what’s on the inside. Spiritually speaking—instead of focusing on our hearts, we often make our focus “behavior modification.” We figure, as long as our behavior looks good on the outside, we don’t really need to deal with the heart issue. Many do this with the parenting of their kids. Parents figure if they can change the behavior of their kids they have dealt with the real issue.  We, parents, think that behavior modification is the real issue. Behavior modification is only a quick fix. We do this spiritually too. We are looking for the quick fix. Instead of treating our heart as the most valuable asset we just change our outward behavior and convince ourselves that  we have dealt with the real issue.

Above all else, make the condition of your heart  your greatest priority.

Secondly, Solomon tells us to “guard your heart.” This word, “guard” means to diligently protect against the enemy.  When we are commanded to guard, an enemy is assumed.  There are other god’s /idols who want control of your heart.  There is an enemy who wants to deceive and destroy you.  The world wants to consume you. There is, spiritually, a war going on. No matter what your age or gender there are gods’ at war. You get to choose who wins. You are the one who is responsible to guard your heart.  You are the one who needs to take the initiative. You are the one who needs to be on the offensive.

One of the most guarded areas in the world is in Fort Knox, KY. Fort Knox is home to much of the nation’s gold reserve. That gold is housed in a two-story building constructed of 16,500 cubic feet of granite, over 1400 tons of steel, and 4200 cubic yards of concrete. The vault door weighs more than 20 tons. No one person has the combination. Various staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. There are four guard boxes surrounding the structure. And it is equipped with the latest in security technology.  Every precaution is taken. Why? Because what’s inside is that valuable.

Why so much attention given to the condition of your heart?

Because Solomon says, “everything flows from it.”

Your heart beats 100,000 times and pumps 2,000 gallons of blood every day. Everything flows through the heart and so it must be protected – it must be guarded. What’s true physically is true spiritually.

In Hebrew culture, the heart was seen differently. It was a metaphor for the center or core of a personality. It was the spiritual hub, and your life flowed from its orientation. The ancients knew that you could lightly touch the wrist and feel a soft beating—what we call a pulse. That same pulse could be felt in the neck and elsewhere. But place the hand over the heart, which in the center of a person, and that beating was more powerful. It
stood to reason that everything flowed from the heart—to the Hebrew, not only blood, but personality, motives, emotions, and will. Here’s an example of the Hebrew idea: “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart” (Proverbs 27:19).

The heart is the truth of your identity, that’s why the gods fight so fiercely for every inch of it. The words the come out of your mouth tells of the condition of you heart. What you treasure comes from your heart.  All of your behavior comes from the condition of your heart. What god wins the war for your heart has a lot to do with how diligently you guard it.

How do you guard it?

1. Accountability

Sometimes the emphasis in accountability within the church is almost exclusively behavior focused. Whether we verbally express it or not the church is very guilty of judging others people’s behavior.  You and I have no rights to be anybody’s judge.

Accountability is not sitting with someone and pointing out their every fault and saying “do better next time”.  Accountability happens when we allow someone to see our hearts. That’s harder to do, but the Bible says in James that when we confess our sins to one another we will be healed.

 2. Prayer

In Philippians 4, Paul says to pray about everything with thanksgiving, and that “the peace of God will guard you hearts in Christ Jesus.”

Do you want peace in your life? Begin to pray. Yes it really is that easy.

When we think of prayer most of us think we have to pause what we are doing, get on our knees, and shout out to God. Now, there are times we  need to pause our life, get on our knees and beg for the mercy of God in our lives.

God also teaches us to pray constantly. Never cease praying. I interpret that as always being aware of his presence.

If you are worried about something. Pray. Worry is always a red flag to begin praying. No just praying about the circumstances or the situation but praying for yourself.

In your deepest, darkest moments. Pray

When life is out of control. Pray

Why pray? Because you become aware of God’s presence. Where God’s presence is – there is peace. That peace that passes understanding will guard your heart. That peace will keep your emotions from making a bad decision. That peace will keep your mouth from saying the wrong thing. That peace will keep you from doing something stupid.

3. Meditate on scripture

It’s not just about what we guard our hearts from, it’s what we open up our hearts to.

When we meditate on scripture we open our hearts to:

• Truth
• Hope
• Love

The scriptures were never intended to be used for condemnation.   Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist church in Kansas died this past week. I believed he did what he thought was the right thing to do but we learned a great lesson from him in that the condemnation of humanity did nothing to change the heart condition of man. The scriptures were never intended to change us into good people, they were written to transform us into living sacrifices.

When we meditate on scripture – transformation begins to happen.

4. Practice holy thinking

Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things”.

We are constantly googling and surfing the net or watching 24 hour news and flipping through hundreds of other channels…and almost none of it is noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Taking time everyday to think about things that are pure, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy will guard your heart.

Quick fixes are a lot easier. They are not very painful. They are not very costly.  And they are not very messy. We spend a lot of time doing quick fixes by trying to fill in the cracks of our lives and painting over them.  Only to discover the cracks reappear in only a few short months. The scriptures teach us that the cracks in our lives are not the problem. They are only symptoms to a much deeper issue.  There is a heart condition issue.

Instead  of trying to fix the cracks in your life , turn the focus to the foundation – your heart. The best place to begin is to make sure you’ve invited Jesus to make your heart his home.