Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” FOCUS!  A man went to golf with a few of his buddies. As they stood on the tee box looking towards the green, one man said, “That green seems a long way off.” His buddies didn’t say a word. The man teed up his ball and
said, “Sure is a narrow fairway.”  His buddies didn’t say a word.

He said, “How am I supposed to hit it over those trees?” His buddies didn’t say a word. They didn’t say anything because they were trying to psych him out. He stepped up to the tee and hit a great tee shot over the trees.  He heard the guys behind him groan, and he just thought they were jealous of his tee shot. After watching their drives, he knew they were jealous of his shot. None of the other guys got even close to the trees.  They hit the ball left and they were miles from the green. They walked down their side of the fairway, and the man walked down his.

His ball wasn’t in the fairway, instead, it was in the weeds surrounded by trees.  He said, “Man, this sure is a tough hole.”  He looked at the next shot, grabbed a club and hit a great shot. His ball hopped right on the green. He was hoping someone would have taking a picture of his great shot. None of his buddies were watching because they were on the other side of the fairway looking in another direction.  He just picked up his bag and started walking towards the green. When he got near the green, he noticed something strange. He saw some men on the green who were already putting.

These were men he didn’t know or recognize. He thought, “These men are really slow or very lost.”  As he looked around the green for his buddies, he finally saw them.  They were on a different green. Right then and there, it hit him. He had played the wrong hole. He had aimed at the wrong target. Everything started to make sense to him.  The groan he heard from his buddies off the tee was not a groan of jealousy, but of pity. His buddies hit the ball right where they were supposed to. That’s why the hole seemed hard. He was playing the wrong hole.  A good friend would have said something, but they didn’t. Golf is hard enough and especially if you are going in the wrong direction.

Life is hard if our focus is off. If we are going the wrong direction in life, it can be hard as well.  Jesus had a heart that was focused. His life never got off track. He kept His focus on what He came to this earth to accomplish. He came to seek and save the lost. He stayed on God’s course. He came to save souls.  The Bible is filled with examples of those who didn't have focused hearts.  Let’s look at Cain for a second. Cain and Abel were brothers. Both brought an offering before the Lord. God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s. We know his anger got the best of him. His anger caused him to do that which was wrong. Cain had a heart problem. 

Let’s look at David for just a second. In 2 Samuel 11, you have the story of how David was walking on his roof and saw a beautiful woman bathing. He sent for her and had sexual relations with her. He ended up
getting her pregnant.  He sends her husband Uriah home from battle and tries to get him to sleep with her to make it look like the baby would be his. He wouldn’t sleep with her while his men were in battle. David ends up having him put to death in battle. 

David, a man after God’s own heart, sinned by committing adultery and with murder. We know how Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12 rebukes David for his sinful actions.  David ends up telling Nathan in verse 13, “I have sinned against the Lord.” His heart wasn’t focused on God. This is a man after God’s own heart, remember that! Even the Godliest people can get distracted by the evil one. He was distracted by a beautiful woman and it got him into trouble. David had a heart problem. 

How do we have a focused heart?  By SEEKING God.  One of the ways we can seek God is by worshiping Him. Worship allows us to draw near to God.We also are to GUARD our heart and mind.  In Matthew 6:21, Jesus teaches us that where our treasure is, there our heart is. Basically, we set our hearts on what we value the most.  As Christians, we say God is our greatest treasure. If He is our greatest treasure, then we will guard that treasure fervently.  We need to STAY close to those in Christ.  We need each other.  Let’s make it our goal to encourage each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” The Christian walk is a group project.  The final way to have a focused heart is to FOCUS on things above.  Because our focus or our life is on Christ, when He comes again, we will be with Him for all eternity in Heaven.  Remember it is the pure in heart who shall see God (Matthew 5:8).  Why do we focus on Jesus and going to Heaven?  What is so appealing about being in Heaven?  John MacArthur once said this, “When people ask me what appeals to me about Heaven, it isn’t streets of transparent gold or gates made of pearls; it is the absence of sin.  I’m tired of sin.”  We focus on things above because sin is also very appealing.  Sin is fun and sin feels good.  Because of that, lets keep our focus on Jesus! 

​If I were to ask you what the two greatest commands found in scripture are, what would you tell me?  The answer is:  To love God and to love our fellowman!  In Matthew 22, a lawyer asked Jesus a question to test him.  He asked Jesus, “What is the great commandment in the law?”  He tells us this in Matthew 22:37-40, “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

I don’t know who wrote this, but I love what the person wrote.  “Loving God without loving people is impossible. However, loving people without loving God is impossible as well. Loving people is the direct result of our love to God.”  This passage from Matthew 22 is found in Deuteronomy 6:5 which says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The Israelites were to love God wholeheartedly.  The same is true for us today.  

First, we are to love God with our whole Heart.  The truth is, we give God our heart and life because Jesus did that for us.  We love Him who first loved us (1 John 4:19).  Because He loves us, we love Him with our entire being or wholeheartedly.  Because of what God has done for us, He deserves our attention and devotion.  We devote our lives to God by submitting to Him in what He says to be saved.  We devote our heart and life to Him by loving Him and obeying His commands (John 14:15).  We live for Him because He loves us!  We are holy because He is holy.  He has saved us and made us one of His own.  Because of that, we love Him wholeheartedly. 

We are to love God with all our Soul.  It’s been said, “Our Soul is the very core of who we are.” Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins.  The soul is the deepest part of who we are, the part of us that searches for something more than just the physical and day-to-day life.  I love what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?”  

Nothing else will satisfy our souls like the Lord.  To love God with our soul is to live a Godly life before Him.  To love Him with our soul is to live a holy life before Him.  When the Devil temps us, we choose God over the lures of the liar and his empty promises.  It means we love God and follow Him no matter what happens.  We pray for God’s Spirit to dominate our lives as opposed to sin.  It is giving God our everything because He gave us our greatest need – salvation.  Here is a question all of us can ask ourselves to see whether we love God with all our soul or not.  “When I speak or act, does it sound/look like Jesus or the world?”

We are to love God with all our Mind.  Loving God with my mind means I need more of His thoughts.  I need to be in His Word.  I need to hear His truths daily.  I need to study and soak up my mind with what He wants me to fill my mind up with.  There is much filth in the world that can corrupt our minds.  The Devil wants the mind just like God does.  The one we feed will lead!  The one we feed will lead our lives. 

​We can renew our minds and fill our minds up with God or we can allow the garbage of this world take control. Our thoughts shape our behavior, right?  Scripture speaks of how we should guard our heart.  Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  Proverbs 4:23“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  To love God with all your mind means to focus on God’s Word and way of life!  

We are to love God with all of our Strength.  Loving God with all your strength means that we are going to do everything within to please and glorify our Heavenly Father in all that we do. It means always doing our best while holding nothing back.  To love Him with all our energy.  David Ralston wrote, “To love God with all our energy, with all our abilities, with all our talents, and with all our spiritual gifts, means serving the Lord by ministering to others.  It means holding nothing back when it comes to our energy level in showing our love for God.”  We love God with all our strength by connecting to the power and might that God gives us.  We are strong in the Lord.  Let’s be committed to living a life of love for God and one another.  Love Him with all your strength!   

We are to love our Neighbor as we love ourselves.  James 2:8 says, “If you keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”  Probably the best way we can love our neighbor as we love ourselves is to treat people as if they are Jesus.  If we saw every soul that we met and see them as Jesus, we would be more loving, caring, forgiving, and we would make a difference in the lives of others.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan, our neighbor can be a complete stranger.  But following Christ means being a neighbor to everyone, and most importantly it is about us being that good neighbor.  Peal Dy wrote, “Love your neighbor exactly as you love yourself. No more and no less.”

Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."  What a beautiful promise for those who are walking with God in purity!  All of us, as His children, should seek to be pure in heart.  I know there is so much filth in this world that can corrupt our souls.  Our purpose is to glorify Him in all that we do.  But the evil one wants to spoil that goal of ours.  Pleasing Him should be our highest joy in life.  Without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrew 12:14).  As we run the race, we are to lay aside or shed the whatever holds us back from being pure.  

Jesus had a pure heart.  He was pure in that He was all about doing what His Father wanted Him to do.  He was pure in that He was sinless.  He bore our sins on the cross and left us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-24).  He makes us righteous because He was innocent and unstained from sin.  He was righteous and He died for the unrighteous.  He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.  But He is able to help us in our time of need, remember that!  He had a pure and obedient heart.  Because of that, let's listen to Him.

We, as His children, are to have a Pure heart.  Thankfully, we can come to Jesus in baptism and be saved.  God came to make something beautiful out of the messes we make.  He saved a wretch like me like the song says.  But sometimes in our walk, our heart is full of trash.  We often let so much junk into our minds and heart.  Because of that, we like David, need to pray for God to create in us a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).  

To be pure in heart is more than just Sunday morning church only.  It is a daily thing.  To grow a pure heart, it takes weeding and seeding.  Get rid of the weeds of sin and plant the seeds of Christian characteristics in our heart.  We are to have the mind of Christ as the Bible says.  We are to take captive every thought to obey Him.  As a man thinks, so is he!  How are your thoughts?  Pure?  Impure?  We own the choices that we make.  

How can we have or grow a pure heart?  Prayer.  Pray for God to control my heart.  Think about things that are pure and put into practice God's ways (Philippians 4:8-9).  Turn to God and His Word.  Pray for the Spirit of God to have total control of us.  We live in a dirty, sinful world. Pray for God to help us stay clean so filth can't get in our lives.  

Purify me Lord, from ways that aren't of you.
Take away the old, and make my life brand new.
I surrender all to You, not my will but Thine. 
The less there is of me, the more of You I see.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

Stay pure and let's go to Heaven together!