Keeping the Heart

The heart of man is his worst part before it is regenerated, and the best afterward; it is the seat of principles, and the foundation of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it.

The greatest difficult in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God. Here lies the very force and stress of religion; here is that which makes the way to life a narrow way, and the gate to heaven a strait gate.

So begins Keeping the Heart by John Flavel. The publisher tacks on the subtitle, "A Puritan's View of how to Maintain Your love for God" [sic]. I'd picked that up on a recommendation from a friend last time I was in Greenville, and finally got around to reading it last Lord's Day afternoon (great way to spend the afternoon, btw). Wonderful book--Christian Heritage puts it in a very easy to read paperback. Track it down and read.

Been digesting the work since then, and think I'll try to talk about bits of it here over the next little while. Hope that's okay with all 4 of you.

"The greatest difficult in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God." Ain't that the truth? Each of us has tasted this struggle (unless we're self-deluded, I guess). Why is that? Well, obviously, sin is a part of it. But that's the easy answer. Why is it that we allow--yeah, allow--ourselves to move our hearts away from our Savior, Lord, and King?