#WISDOMSample

Heart Attack

Statistics say that it is impossible for a human being to survive without a heart. Okay, I don’t have statistics for that, but it’s common sense. If you don’t have blood pumping through your body, somehow you’re running on borrowed time.

The world of the Bible – both the Hebrews and the Greeks – believed the heart was more than just a blood-pumping muscle. It had power. The heart was the place where all our energy, motivations, and true intentions came from.

In the Bible, the heart didn’t just keep you alive – it WAS your life, identity, and way of being in the world.

It makes sense then that Proverbs 6 talks about how to respond to the various challenges of life. Everything that happens is about motivation, attitude, and execution – in other words, stuff that starts in our heart.

Proverbs says, “A troublemaker and a villain…plots evil with deceit in his heart…” (6:12, 14). Every struggle in Proverbs 6 is an issue of whether or not we’ve turned our hearts to God and His wisdom.

For example, the Proverbs talk about things that the Lord “hates” and are “detestable” to Him. (6:16) Good to remember that these are “things” that God is against, not “people.” Besides, the reason they’re detestable is that they destroy us from the inside out.

If you read them, you can see the heart issue:

• Haughty eyes = seeing the world like you’re better than everyone
• Lying tongue = driven to hide the truth for our own purposes
• Hands that shed innocent blood = taking advantage of people who have done nothing wrong
• Heart that devises wicked schemes = planning things that benefit us and wound others
• Feet that are quick to rush to evil = the motivation to go for what is most profitable to us, no matter what
• A false witness = a heart that accuses other people falsely
• A person who stirs up conflict = the drive to create chaos between people for whatever reason

The challenge today is to look at these seven issues and ask, “Which of these do I find coming out of my own heart and life?”

What if instead we took the advice of 6:20-23 as we go through the day today?