Life’s Focus

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.       – Proverbs 3:3

Do you have a digital tablet? Beyond cell phones and desktop or laptop computers, these small PCs hold marvelous technical advancements with millions of pixels and capabilities in drawing, charting, managing, and more. When Solomon was providing instruction to his son in Proverbs, tablets were generally made of clay, impressed with a stylus, recording anything from financial transactions to history lessons. The tablets of the heart mentioned in today’s verse also appear in Proverbs 7:3 and Jeremiah 17:1, linking back to Deuteronomy 6:6-9.   

The Apostle Paul refers to the same thing in 2 Corinthians 3:3, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” Academic theologian Walter Elwell wrote, “The heart represents the total response of a person to life around him or her and to the religious and moral demands of God.” God wants His Words to be the focus of your life and the determining factor in your actions. 

Hymnist Fanny Crosby wrote, “Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word.” A more recent worship chorus by Sally DeFord asks the Lord, “Write thy name upon my heart.” Jesus said it is “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).  

There is another record that comes from the heart of the Lord himself: The Lamb’s Book of Life. Another hymn asks the question, “Is your name written there on the pages white and fair? In the book of His Kingdom, is your name written there?” If you have not already, give the Lord your heart today. Pray for America’s leaders to listen to God’s call on their lives and submit their hearts to Him.