“You offspring of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you and lust has perverted your heart” (Dan. 13:56).
In the account of Susanna, the beautiful woman for whom the two elders, who had been appointed as judges, were overwhelmed with passion, we see clearly illustrated the danger of division of heart. Even two elders that were respected by the people and placed in positions of authority and trust fell into a disastrous situation because they did not sufficiently guard their hearts. They fell in love with the beauty of Susanna, and their infatuation cost them their lives.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Knowing this, we have to take precautions to guard our whole way of life so that our heart does not divide. If we fall in love with forbidden beauty or with worldly pleasures, we are divided in our love of God and can no longer love him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength, as we should (Mark 12:30). Part of our heart will be reserved for forbidden beauty or worldly pleasures, and our heart will be divided. But God wants all of our heart. He wants a heart that is undivided in our love for him. He does not want to have to compete with the delights of this world or with human beauty for our attention. He wants all of our attention, all of our interest, and all of our love, without any division. This is the life of perfection. Marriage is necessary and blessed; but apart from that, we should love God with an undivided heart; and celibacy, for this reason, is superior to marriage, for it enables us to love God with a more undivided heart (2 Cor. 7:32-34, 38).
Therefore we are to serve only one master (Matt. 6:24), have only one treasure (Matt. 6:19-21), and renounce all to gain all, as did the man that discovered the buried treasure and sold all that he had to obtain it (Matt. 13:44-46). Thus we hate our life in this world to guard it for eternal life (John 12:25). But those who love their life, falling in love with forbidden beauty or with worldly pleasures, lose their life. Those who save their lives in this way lose them; while those who lose their lives for Christ save them (Mark 8:35). Therefore we are to be crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14). In dying to the world, we live for God.
Custody of the heart and of the senses is the job of a lifetime, as we see in case of these two elders who fell in old age.
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