Proverbs 4:23 NLT [23] Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

The heart is the place in which the process of self-consciousness is carried out, in which the soul is at home with itself, and is conscious of all its doing and suffering as its own”

As the engine in a motor vehicle determines its function, so the heart also determines our function and also our destinies. All we ought to be; is determined by what we are inside. It is our inner being that's demonstrated on the outside.

What price did Christ pay?

He bore our griefs.

He carried our sorrows.

He was pierced, chastened and scourged for us.

Verse 4 is our wrong attitude and Christ died in order that we have the right attitudes.

Verse 5 is our behavior, but Christ paid the price with His life that we have the right behaviors.

Verse 6 is our nature; Christ died that we have the right nature.

Many times as believers when we are saved and have spent weeks, months; years and decades in salvation we tend to shift the focus from the true message of the gospel which is the reason why Christ died, we tend to shift our focus from the price that Christ paid and put all our focus on what is meaningless. We focus on what God can give us and forget the precious gift He gave us.

Christ took the punishment of our sin.

We should have suffered for our sin but Christ took it away. He takes our sin and removes having paid for all.

The price that Christ paid is something every believer must ponder about and make it his foundation of salvation because it's indeed the foundation for salvation.

Christ was reviled and never reviled back. He bore our sins in His body on the cross.

The price Christ paid not many can pay.

He had no stately form or majesty that could attract anybody. Remember I told you that he grew up in a family of a humble background. His peasant upbringing, His poverty, as well as his lack of association with the aristocracy that's the all religious, political, and economic power in Jerusalem.

What price did Christ pay?

He left all glory, all honor in heaven to die for us. He chose to be called a son of a carpenter; He was born in a manger.

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.(lsaiah 53:3, NASB)

And because he was from a family of a humble background with no social status; he was despised. He was rejected and still today many reject him. And why did they reject Christ, because he was pure holiness and they pure corruption.

Today people reject Christ not because they are forced, but because they are pure corruption and he is pure holiness. Today people reject and despise Christ because they are too selfish; deeply rooted in their own unholy practices and actions and immorality to believe the message of life.

People are too evil to turn away from their sinful lives and lusts. Believers are too eager to adapt the standards of the world deviating from the word of God and thus rejecting Christ.

When God looks at any sinner, he doesn't see his/her sins but sees the fully paid price which is his beloved Son Jesus Christ.