Guard Your Heart Series

MENTAL HEALTH IN THE PROVERBS: GUARD YOUR HEART

PROVERBS 4:20-27

#mentalhealth

INTRODUCTION… Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ

I like to read. I enjoy a good story. I like a book that is useful to me. I am usually either reading or listening to one book for fun and one book for some betterment of myself. Some people listen to the radio, I am always listening to an audiobook I checked out from the library.

I was going over some books I wanted to read recently and I came across a book I already read. I read it in 2022 (so three years ago). The book directly talks about our current subject of mental health. It is a book by Peter Scazzero who was a minister in New York and now leads the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship ministry. I was looking over the book and noted some passages that I highlighted because they will warm our minds up to the Scripture passage we are looking at today and get us thinking about emotional and mental health. I had forgotten how good the book was and how much it challenged me:

For example, he said: “The Bible does not spin the flaws and weaknesses of its heroes. Moses was a murderer. Hosea’s wife was a prostitute. Peter rebuked God! Noah got drunk. Jonah was a racist. Jacob was a liar. John Mark deserted Paul. Elijah burned out. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Thomas doubted. Moses had a temper. Timothy had ulcers. And all these people send the same message: that every human being on earth, regardless of their gifts and strengths, is weak, vulnerable, and dependent on God and others.”

For example, he said: “When we deny our pain, losses, and feelings year after year, we become less and less human. We transform slowly into empty shells with smiley faces painted on them. Sad to say, that is the fruit of much of our discipleship in our churches. But when I began to allow myself to feel a wider range of emotions, including sadness, depression, fear, and anger, a revolution in my spirituality was unleashed. I soon realized that a failure to appreciate the biblical place of feelings within our larger Christian lives has done extensive damage, keeping free people in Christ in slavery.”

For example, he said: “When people have authentic spiritual experiences—such as worship, prayer, Bible studies, and fellowship—they mistakenly believe they are doing fine, even if their relational life is fractured and their interior world is disordered. Their apparent ‘progress’ then provides a spiritual reason for not doing the hard work of maturing. They are deceived.”

TRANSITION

Today we are going to be digging into the Truth that we are all vulnerable and in need of God. We are going to be discussing that when we deny our pain, loss, and emotions year after year that we create in us a sink hole for our psyche. Ok, that was last week, but keep that in mind anyway. We are going to talk about being a mature believer in Christ.

We will be reading from Proverbs 4:

READ PROVERBS 4:20-27 (ESV)

“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”

TRANSITION

We are going to do an overview of Proverbs 4:20-27 and then take a deeper look at one particular verse. Notice again, like the other passages we have looked at, the passage begins with a “listen up!” sentiment. We are meant to pay attention. In Proverbs, we have statements like “be attentive” and “listen to me.” In the New Testament, Jesus says “I tell you the truth.” If you like the King James Version, this is a “verily verily I say unto thee” type situation. What do these verses say overall?

QUICK OVERVIEW OF VERSES 20-27

RE-READ VERSES 20-21

My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart

Mental health, emotional health, and for that matter spiritual health is nurtured by what we focus on. What we internalize shapes us. If we want to be real, this matters physically as well. We are what we eat for what we eat shapes us. What are what we take into our mind, heart, and spirit because those parts of us also shape us. We know this to be true because Jesus Christ teaches the same Truth. What we focus on shapes us.