Keep Thy Heart With All Diligence

Lunminthang Haokip *

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23)."

The Vitality of The Heart : The issues of life are aplenty. Of foremost importance is that one's heart-beat has to keep beating so that one stays alive. Once it stops, one ceases to exist as a human being, and is remembered as a 'human-been.' Other issues of life like bids to get status, food, clothing and shelter will run helter-skelter once the heart fails to play its role in the human body as the center of blood-circulation system. Located right in the middle of the chest, between two lungs, on the blood-pumping regularity of the heart depends the vital issue of survival of human life.

The Heart and Entry Gates: The border town of Manipur on the fringe of Myanmarese territory has Gate no. 1 at entry point of our part of AH-1; and Gate no. 2 at the entrance of the sprawling Namphalong Market. Likewise, the eye is Gate no. 1 for a person as what it sees impacts the reaction of the mind, Gate no. 2.

The reasoning process in the mind is further passed on to enter our Gate no. 3, the heart that scrutinizes and finalizes human response. When a man says, "I am hurt to the core of my heart", the emotion is being given the 'final touch' by the heart. Happiness and joy over an exciting happening also come out of the 'khushi' factor in the middle of human chest.

Condition of the Original Heart: Picture the global hate-speeches, national isolations and economic sanctions, wars in the name of religion, do-or-die one-upmanship in prime leadership, the plot and propaganda in in the rat-race of rivalry, the lop-sided community-based molten sentiments and the mutual dislike, even in spiritual positions. The root-cause of hatred can be traced back to have had its roots in 'not keeping one's heart diligently.'

It takes an honest judgment of oneself to fully agree with what Prophet Jeremiah wrote about the heart: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it (Jer 17:9)." We have a penchant to soft-pedal the "deceitfulness' of our own hearts and care two hoots to know about its 'desperate wickedness.' Many disastrous events in history could have been averted had key policy-makers had thought many times before going by the 'prejudiced' diktats of 'notions' potion-ed by 'deception' in human Gate no. 3.

Three Major Institution: God created three major institutions for civilized society to run smoothly: The Family, the Church, and Civil Government. What is being taught and regulated in the Church, by way of giving a new heart to its members through repentance and the fear of God, will determine the spiritual temperament of the families attached to it. Because most of our Churches get hooked on the outwardly frills of the world system, hardened hearts vulnerable to touchiness and vanity fill the families.

When men in Civil Government, and civil society know no 'brokenness' through the Word of God, peaceful existence will be the casualty, and chance ignition of combustible atmosphere cannot be ruled out. The goodness of civil government in ever providing basic needs is conveniently forgotten; and at the pretext of a single stray misunderstood 'undesirable' incident, sentiments are whipped up to, at times, to vandalize public and private property, much to our own collective loss.

How to Keep The Heart Diligently?: When parts of a vehicle mal-function, it is taken to the maker or dealer for repair. God is our Maker. When a tendency, that has the potential to loathe and cause disruption to harmonious human existence, germinates in the heart, it is most prudent to consult the Maker of the heart through prayer or His Word. He has the power and authority to remedy every imagined malady by instilling the right perception of things.

God knows that it's tough for a person to forgive a wrong- real or imagined – without loving Him first. So, to empower one to love one's fellow beings, the Bible gave us a potent prescription in Deuteronomy 11:13, "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Life is Unpredictable: Life is uncertain. The only unfailing thing is the love of God. Nature fails often, disastrously. Technology that we pin our hopes on failed miserably at times. The Concorde, the super-sonic jet touted to have been the safest plane flying at twice the speed of sound, in its Air France Flight 4590, crashed in year 2000. 109 hopeful holidaying passengers and another 4 hotel staff lost their lives.

Weather too played havoc opn lives. The horror witnessed in the thunder-storm-devoured crash of Air Asia Flight 8501 on the way to Singapore from Indonesia in 2014, that caused fatality to 162 passengers and left their families distraught, is still fresh in our minds. Watching their plight on Youtube still sends shivers down our spines! Crash victims had no time to set things right with God and men. We have. Life is too short for hatred. Respect and love for one another will calm down situations.

A New Heart will Do The Trick: If not reigned in at the right juncture, a rebellious heart will cause collateral damage, both to the hater and to the hated! The acid harms the container most. If we can restrain ourselves from tearing others apart, surrender our heart to our ever gracious Lord, by tearing our hearts instead (Joel 2:13), with a contrite spirit, He will give us a new heart that will find it difficult to hate others. Hatred will be removed. One will, then, come to agree with the old adage: "Giving back love for hatred is the greatest revenge" and truly believe in the gem written in words in Ezekiel 36:26:

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."

Lunminthang Haokip

* Lunminthang Haokip wrote this article for The Sangai Express
This article was webcasted on 11 February, 2017.