Guard Your Heart (Travis Koch)

TRA Graduation 2014, Faculty Address

Thank you Peter, and thank you again graduates for inviting me to give your commencement address today.  I’m especially honored that you asked me to do this after only one year teaching at the River Academy.  I’m sure future classes won’t make the same mistake.

We come now to that part of the ceremony where I, on behalf of the school, am expected to impart to you some final, sage advice that will guide and inspire you as you leave this place and commence the next chapter of your life.

And you, seniors, may be wondering: After all the topics we’ve already covered in class; after all the books we’ve read and discussed; after all our over-caffeinated conversations at Café Mela; after all the pearls of wisdom and knowledge our teachers have showered upon us over the years … what could Mr. Koch possibly say that we haven’t already heard?

Let’s face it: you’re right.  In our Humane Letters class alone we spent nearly 250 hours this year sitting around tables wrestling with the ultimate questions of life, the universe, and everything.  Those hours of instruction have been multiplied time and again in all the classes you’ve taken during your years at the River.

And I can’t help but think that if we teachers have taken advantage of all our time together, then certainly we must have already given you all the tools and advice we can think of.  We’ve already said all we can say to prepare you as you go from this place.  And now, sadly, the clock has run out.  And our time together is over.  So it goes.

But perhaps there’s something more to say.  One last bit of instruction.  A final exhortation.  And so, I’ve chosen to send you off with these words of ancient wisdom: This above all else, guard your heart.

Above all else, guard your heart, because your heart, says Solomon in Proverbs 4, is the wellspring of your life.  Whatever is in your heart – your desires, your goals, your fears, your affections – the orientation of your heart will determine the course of your life.

Now, Disney disagrees with Solomon.  And you knew I couldn’t go three minutes without pointing out yet another way Disney distorts the truth.  Disney tells you to do what?  Follow your heart. 

And today, at graduation ceremonies all around the world, commencement speakers are echoing Disney’s advice and encouraging graduates to follow their hearts, wherever their hearts may lead them.

Solomon’s words are more sobering.  He says that, in a very real sense, you already follow your heart.

Your heart is the wellspring of your life.  Whatever is happening in your heart will be expressed, for better or worse, in the outworking of your life.  Your thoughts … your words … your actions … will all be guided—and limited—by what’s in your heart.  According to Solomon, you have no choice but to follow your heart. 

So, what advice does he give to people whose lives flow out of their hearts?

Guard your heart.

Before I describe what guarding your heart looks like, I want to remind you

what the Bible means when it speaks of your heart.  God says a lot about the heart in Scripture.  In fact, there are more than 750 passages that describe the various functions of the heart.  And what God ascribes to the heart includes much more than just feelings.

For example, according to Scripture you think with your heart.  God flooded the world in Genesis 6 because God saw that the thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil all the time.  Luke tells us in chapter 9 of his gospel that Jesus knew what his disciples were thinking in their heart.

You know with your heart.  Before Joshua dies he tells the people of Israel that they know with all their heart that not one of God’s promises has failed.

You discern with your heart.  Solomon says in Proverbs 15 that a discerning heart seeks knowledge.

God says you remember your heart; You fear with your heart; You love with your heart; You hate with your heart; You grieve with your heart; You rejoice with your heart; You believe with your heart

The list goes on and on.

It’s important to notice that many of these activities that we usually ascribe to the brain—thinking, knowing, remembering, discerning—God describes as functions of the heart.

Whatever we think about the brain’s power to process data, it’s your heart that gives direction to your brain and to your thoughts.  Your heart is the wellspring. 

Your heart is the source of your affections, your desires, your responses, your commitments—the inward disposition of your heart shapes everything you think, do, and say.

Jesus says it this way: The good man brings forth good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings forth what is evil out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Your heart is the center of who you are.  It is the control center of your life. 

Who you are as a person and everything you do, all the time, every day, flows out of your heart.  It’s not surprising, then, that Solomon stresses guarding your heart above everything else.

Now, what, exactly, does this guarding look like?  What are you guarding against?

There are really two kinds of threats you need to guard against.  The first comes from inside your heart, and the second comes from outside.

First, guard your heart against those threat that come from within.

God says in Jeremiah 17 that your heart—the very heart that Disney encourages you to follow—is deceitful above all things.  Your heart, the source of your life, is fully capable of leading you astray.  Like Confido in the Vonnegut story we read this week, your heart can skew your interpretation of the world around you.

It’s the voice that tells you’re not getting what you deserve.  That you’re being treated unfairly.  It’s the voice that tells you you’re right and everyone else is wrong.  That you can handle it.  That you’re not really being sucked in.  It’s the voice that tells you that you’re fully capable of doing everything you need to do to be successful, if only everyone else would get out of your way.

These are just some of the deceptions of the heart.  Guard against these.

Solomon puts it rather bluntly in Proverbs 28:26.  He says whoever trusts his own hearts is a fool.

Guard your heart against these deceptions.  Subject your thoughts continually to the light of God’s Truth.  Cry out with David in Psalm 26: “Test me, O Lord, and try me;
 examine my heart and my mind.”

Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Do not let the truth depart from you, says Solomon.  Bind it around your neck.  Write it on the tablet of your heart.

Second, guard your heart against those attacks that come at you from the outside. 

These include ideas, arguments, noble causes, paths to praise and success that promise satisfaction – if only you will give yourself to them. 

Like it or not, there is a war going on for your attention, for your thoughts, your affections, your time.  Your heart is the center of who you are, and it must follow either one Master or another.

So guard your heart against attacks from the outside.  Watch over it.  Protect it.  Be aware of what’s coming at you.  Watch out for enemies that would mislead, weaken, and destroy you.  Interrogate intruders.

Stop right there!  Where do you think you’re going?  You’re an idea, aren’t you?  Where did you come from?  How’d you get here?  Are you honest and true?  What do you plan to do here if I let you in?  Do you have some record of past accomplishments?  Can I see some references?  What happened to the last person who let you in?

Guard your heart.

Who’s this here?  A fear!  Thought you could sneak in, did you?  Come to spread decay and paralysis.  I’m sorry, but you won’t find a home here.  We feed only on truth within these gates, and our nourishment is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  No, you’ll starve to death with no lies to feed on.  Move along.  There’s no place for you here.

Guard your heart. 

Guard it from dangers on the inside and attacks from outside.

Now, I’m not really telling you anything new, am I?  I’m really just encouraging you to keep doing what we’ve been doing together for the past several years.

Every day, with each new experience, every opportunity, every relationship, every success, and every failure—pay attention to what’s coming at you.

Consider the underlying message.  Break it down.  What are you being asked to believe?  What are you being asked to do?  Engage the story.  Dig beneath the surface.  Ask good questions.  Never stop asking good questions.

Never forget that the things you let into your heart will steer the course of your life.

Guard your heart.

Today is a day of celebration.  We celebrate this day together because it is unique among all the days of your life.  It’s a commencement.  On this day you formally end your general studies and begin a more focused pursuit of whatever God calls you to do.

Up to this point we’ve forced you all to take the same classes, answer the same questions, solve the same problems, think about the same issues.  We even require you all to dress the same.

And we’ve joked about how challenging that has been for a group of students as diverse as the five of you. I remember early in the year asking you to name one thing you all had in common.  I think after 10 minutes of discussion you decided you all liked doughnuts.

But today you go your separate ways.  This is the first day of a new chapter in your life.  This is your first day as a graduate.  And as such this day is unique.

But as you celebrate the closing of one chapter and the opening of another, don’t forget that this day is also ordinary.  This day—and every day for the rest of your life—is, in some ways, identical to all the days you’ve spent in and out of school for the past 12 years.

Because every day of your life is a day in which you think, feel, speak, and act

out of your heart.  Each day is another battle in the ongoing war for your affections. 

Each day you must guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of your life.

And now, there really is nothing left to say. 

Let me close with a benediction.  A good word that has been repeated over the past 2000 years by Christians who understand how important it is to have your heart guarded. 

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.