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

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 (New International Version, NIV)

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 (New Living Translation, NLT)

We are to guard, keep, and protect our hearts, monitoring what we allow to flow in and out. The word translated issues in the King James could better be translated boundaries, forces, springs. They are the controlling factors of your life because what gets in your heart comes out and will determine the course of your life. If love gets in your heart, love will flow out of it. If anger gets in, that is what will flow out of it. Your life begins in your heart and flows outward.

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15 (KJV) emphasis mine

Looking diligently is the Greek word episkopos, which means to look over, to take supervisory oversight. This same word is found in I Timothy 3:1 as the word bishop. A bishop is an overseer, and we are to be overseers of our hearts. We are the gatekeepers of our hearts, watching and guarding what is allowed in and out of our hearts. We are to control what gets in and what goes on inside us. We must protect the issues, the controlling factors, of our hearts and lives.

Where we place our affections will determine how we live our lives. Guard your heart and protect it because your life will go in the direction of your heart. Let your heart lead you in the right direction so you’ll love and follow God. So, put boundaries on your heart and your desires. Boundaries will prevent us from sinning. Boundaries keep us in the right lane so we’ll chase after God with all our hearts and not after distractions. Guard your heart to guard your relationship with God, as well as other relationships.

You are the bishop, the overseer, of your heart. Whatever you allow to come in and flow out produces the issues, the controlling factors, of your life. Therefore, to guard your life, you must guard your heart. If you do, your life will go and flow in the direction God intended.