Guard your Hearts and Minds 🛡️💓🧠

The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:5-9 (ESV)

 

 

A while back we'd left the house for a short trip. We were only going to be gone a couple of days, but when we were about fifteen minutes from the house my wife asked, "Did you remember to lock the back door?"

 

Ummm... I think I... uh..... 

 

Ever been there? Something that's so routine that you don't remember doing it, but something that's also so important to do that you need to make sure it got done?

 

Well, we drove the fifteen minutes back home and I checked. Sure enough, I'd already locked the back door. So we left again. All-in-all that was an extra thirty minutes added to the trip because I just couldn't remember if I'd locked the door, and it was important enough to do that we deemed it worth the lost time.

 

Why was it important? Well, all our stuff is in our house. If thieves got in, they could steal televisions, computers, jewelry, and heaven forbid, a lot of theology books! EEEEK!

 

If they stole my coffee maker I'd be devastated. If they stole the video game systems, my kids would be distraught.

 

But none of these things really matter all that much, really. In the big scheme of things, Jesus pointed out, that we can't take our "earthly possessions" with us, so we should store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, spiritual treasures, that will endure beyond this life (Matt 6:19-21).

 

We tend to "guard" and "protect" the things we value the most.

 

Why, then, do we tend to play so fast and loose with our hearts and minds?

 

I know some people guard their hearts because they've been hurt in the past and don't want to be again, but that's only in one area of life. There are so many other ways we allow our affections and our thoughts to be consumed by earthly things.

 

Paul writes that we should guard our hearts and minds.

 

🛡️💓🧠 <-- I'm way prouder of that emoji sentence than I should be.

 

He says that right after saying, "do not be anxious about anything."

 

I'm guessing that someone on this list (probably several someones) struggles with anxiety. Those who don't deal with anxiety constantly, do at least intermittently.

 

Paul gives us the answer. To turn everything over to God in prayer. Do this, and you'll get a peace which surpasses all understanding.

 

☮️🦄 (see what I did there!)

 

But with that peace, he exhorts us to guard our hearts and minds. I think what he's doing here is giving us more direction on prayer. There are a lot of ways we can pray. You can read a pre-written prayer, and meditate on the words, or your can speak from the heart. You can pray in a way that begins and ends with a "dear God" and and "Amen," or you can be in more of a constant prayer, an awareness of God as you go about your life.

 

There are more books about prayer to count, so I'm not going to try.

 

But Paul gives us some advice. The first is to "think about" certain things, the word there can be to "rhuminate" or ponder things. This is more like meditative prayer: ...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

 

I think that has to do with guarding our hearts and minds. You see, it's not just about preventing bad stuff from getting in, it's also about focusing our hearts and minds in good things... honorable things, just thinks, pure things, lovely things, etc...

 

Sometimes I think we get the idea that we're "protecting ourselves" if we just don't watch x-rated videos, or listen to negative/hateful music, or hang around people who engage in sinful behaviors.

 

What Paul's saying here, though, is that actually guarding our hearts/minds is about more than what we keep out... it's also about what we put in our hearts and minds.

 

It's not about avoiding the bad stuff (leaving us in a state of meaninglessness/nothingness) but about pondering, meditating, on good things.

 

It's about doing good, too. Paul encourages his readers in Philippi to imitate him in this respect. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. 

 

What's so fascinating here is that he actually attributes to this action a presence of God in their lives, a peaceful presence of God. So what is Paul modeling for them? I'd like to know, so we can do it too.

 

Well, I think we can learn quite a bit from reading his letters. He always gives thanks to God for the people he's talking to. Even when those people are way off the rails, he gives thanks for them. He prays continually. He does good for anyone who needs it, he engages in charity, helping whoever needs help. He speaks up when it's necessary to speak up, and he seeks people to share the Gospel with.

 

Just a few observations from reading Paul. The point isn't just to imitate Paul here, though. I think he's basically telling us to actually put the things we meditate on, that we think about, into action. If you don't know how to put your faith into practice, he advises looking to a more mature believer, someone who's been doing it a while.

 

We all have people in the faith we admire. You know, the people who seem to have an unshakable faith, who know the Word, who are really walking the walk and talking the talk. Paul says look to those people who might be a little further along in their faith walk than you are, and see what they're doing.

 

It's another way of saying that we need to be a part of a community, to learn from each other, to imitate each other insofar as we're all following Christ faithfully, but never imitating one another in our flaws and sins.

 

So, let me boil all this down.

 

How do we guard our hearts and minds? (🛡️💓🧠)

 

We pray, we meditation on good things (especially the Word of God) and fill our thoughts with things that are lovely, beautiful and godly. And we put our faith into action, even imitating others when we need guidance about what we should be doing.

 

Let me see if I can translate this into emoji.

 

If this is you: 😰😩😭🤬

 

Then here's what you should do: 🙏📙🪞

 

Pray, think/meditate on good things, and reflect Jesus in your actions, even imitating people in the faith who are walking the walk you wish you were walking.

 

Now, if we were all as fervent about guarding our hearts and minds like that as we are about locking our doors, or going to extreme measures to double-check to make sure we locked up our houses, if we protected our hearts and minds the way we protect our material goods...

 

Just think about how much God would do through us? It would be world-changing, wouldn't it?

 

In Jesus' name,

Judah