The most exhausting thing about life is the issues that we face.          

The misunderstandings.        

Betrayals.           

Arguments.             

The negative reports and stress.           

Loved ones who do things in certain ways that bother us or people we don’t know who affect us by doing inconsiderate things.            

Not having enough time for everything that we have to do and using too much time doing things that don’t benefit us.          

Handling family drama, friendship tension or the pressure of work.               

Dealing with our own issues and past brokenness, is extremely draining to deal with.              

It’s all so frustrating!             

Don’t you just wish that there was a way to live an    

Issue-free life?                  

That you could just enjoy your life, without all of these frustrations keeping you from delighting in the wonderful moments of life?                

The Bible actually gives us the key to this kind of life!             

It’s the secret to an issue-free life, 

hidden in plain sight!            

I want to share this with you because I believe that, the more people who know about this, the better!              

The secret lies in just one verse…               

Here it is!              

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”              

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                 

This scripture reveals something critical!           

Where issues come from.                  

As we can only stop water from flowing out of a leak, by finding out where the leak began…            

So we can stop the issues from flowing, if we know where the issues came from.                  

This scripture tells us that the issues of life come out of our hearts.                   

Jesus explains this further in ‭‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭43‬-‭45‬.         

 ““For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”                   

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭43‬-‭45‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                

Good produce  

comes from   

Good roots.             

Good things come out of a heart that is set on good!           

Bad things come out of a heart that is set on bad!                 

If someone sets their hearts on selfish ambitions or deceit, why would you expect selfless acts, thoughtfulness and truth to come from them?             

I don’t know if you have realized this yet, but allow me to clear this up for you…                     

ALL EVIL comes from the hearts of people!                     

ALL EVIL!                 

Don’t believe me?                 

The LORD told the prophet Jeremiah 

““The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”                 

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                

Our hearts are responsible for all of the issues that upset us everyday!                      

Evil comes from hearts that seek for themselves and not for others.                    

This is why Jesus tells us in Romans 13…              

“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”                  

‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.                    

If sin and evil opposes the law, the law is opposite of evil…        

Which is why the law is love for God and others.            

Abandonment.              

Murder.             

Heartbreak.              

Robbery.                   

Sexual exploitation.                

Slavery.                     

Even as small as leaving something for someone else to do, because you don’t want to do it.                 

You litter, make a mess in the department store, or leave your home in disarray knowing that your family will deal with it;           

 and you say in your heart,    

“They pay people to pick that up.”             

Or   

“it’s not a big deal, someone will handle that, I’ve got things to do.”            

It has gotten really bad when you don’t even realize how you might inconvenience the people around you.              

When you just live your life carelessly and only consider what you want in each moment.              

It seems so common and natural to live like this…          

Which is what makes it so dangerous!                  

We can say that it’s human nature to consider yourself before you consider how your actions affect other people…               

but      

human nature doesn’t make it right.                  

We have normalized the practice of evil and pretend that the only evil in the world is murders and thefts.                

We think that evil is only in some people.                 

Of course we don’t see how all of the major evil acts we see on the news, started as small evil intents in the hearts of those people.                  

The murderer wasn’t born a killer…        

they started by not trusting people; then they started disregarding people, hating people in their hearts and seeing people as unimportant.                  

Evil creeps into our hearts, in it’s attempt to blend into the background, to avoid getting caught.             

That’s exactly why we are so comfortable with these small acts of evil.                  

Because small acts of evil are able to blend into the background and appear as though it is normal.                 

We allow ourselves to do evil everyday!                

Though we don’t always see the results of our actions, our selfish actions do negatively affect those around us.                    

Imagine that you moved cans of soup around on a grocery store shelf, and when you found the one you wanted, you did not restock the cans safely for the next person who would touch those cans.              

You’re in a rush.          

The store workers will fix that.           

You don’t want to go through the trouble of fixing the cans.               

You walk away and never think about it again.              

However, what if you didn’t make it out of that aisle before you saw a toddler approach that shelf and one of the cans of soup, that you left carelessly on the shelf, rolled off and dropped right on the head of that child?                      

Your heart would break!                  

You would feel terrible for how your actions caused an innocent child pain.              

All because you didn’t feel like inconveniencing yourself, you allowed the next person in line to suffer.             

You don’t usually see this happen, but you have experienced when people do careless things and you are the one suffering because of it.                  

That is called evil.                    

That’s not loving people.             

It’s not intentionally considering them as valuable.            

It is considering yourself, instead.            

Why am I telling you this?                

Because all of the ISSUES OF LIFE come from these small, normalized acts of evil.                      

All of these little acts, are a result of what you have let cultivate in your heart.                          

This is why        

All the issues of life come from our hearts.                     

We CANNOT      

follow our hearts!                      

We need to LEAD our hearts!                   

Our hearts only look out for what makes us comfortable and pleased.                

They seldom put others first.                              

Instead of listening to our hearts, we need to guard our hearts and remind our hearts what is actually good!               

Doing what we feel, leads us to make ourselves feel good, even if it causes someone else hurt and frustration.                  

This is why I believe that we all need to understand this.                        

The more people who realize this, the more we will avoid causing issues for other people.                  

Issues of life will decrease if our consideration for others increase!                  

Our selfish decisions impact ourselves too.                

We cause unnecessary issues in our lives by making decisions based on our temporary feelings.                

For example,         

You don’t want to save money for retirement now, because you want to buy all the things you like.          

Sure today you are pleased, but years from today, you will have to deal with the issues that come with not saving for retirement.             

Or, you have grown so tired of your spouse’s personality, and you say whatever you feel in the moment, no matter how destructive it might be.           

Sure it feels better to let everything out in the heat of an argument.   

It feels good to know that you are right and they just stop fighting and let you win the argument.                   

Later, you face the issue of a broken home, a shriveled marriage and a sense of loneliness that you can’t shake.                 

Your selfish decisions today, don’t just cause issues for others…         

It causes all the issues that you face in your life.                

This is why you need to lead your heart.                   

You can’t just live carelessly and selfishly and expect anything good to come from that.               

So, what are you going to do?                     

Do you want this to change?                

Are you ready to live an issue-free life?                      

You may be thinking,         

“Okay, I want to guard my heart and lead my heart…        

but how do I do that?”                     

Jesus tells us exactly how to start guarding our hearts.       

‭‭

Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.               

““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”                 

Your heart will be filled of what you treasure.              

If you treasure what brings you temporary pleasure, don’t be surprised when later comes issues.               

However, if you treasure the things that God says are of eternal value, then you will store in your heart, what is eternally good.              

Only two things are promised forever…              

God and people.               

You can’t take your things to eternity…           

only God’s people and God Himself remains.              

Which is why God simply asked us to love Him and love one another.                 

God is helping us see what things we should treasure.           

Him and people!                 

When you treasure your current desires, issues inevitably result from that.               

If you treasure what will eternally be beneficial and good, issues are less likely to arise.                

Of course, even if you choose to treasure people and be considerate of what your decisions do to affect them, other people might still choose to be inconsiderate towards you.               

Issues will still come because of the carelessness of other people, but when your treasure is not on the here and now…       

What used to be an issue to you before, will not be as upsetting.                     

When you place your value in God and His people, the issues of this life won’t seem as big.                    

That’s the key to an issue-free life!             

Place your treasure in what Jesus has done, in the hearts of God’s people and in God’s word!            

When this is your focus, you look at life differently!              

When your heart is full of purpose and love, you are not as frustrated when troubles hit.                   

When you keep or carefully guard your heart, issues won’t flow out of it.                

You will find purpose and love flow out of your heart!              

It could not only give you an issue-free life…             

but it could help bring an issue-free life to those around you too!