During this morning’s message, John Bailey talked about “guarding your heart” in the new year… This really resonated with me, and I felt like God was sending me a message.
I thought to myself about how permissive I have been with the things that come into my heart lately… I’ve heard the “f-word” more than a few times in a couple of the movies I’ve watched. I’ve listened to individuals talking about others in what turned out to be a gossiping manner.
It’s funny, isn’t it, how we justify the outright contamination of our hearts to ourselves… For some reason, we think that we can just put whatever we want in there, and it won’t affect us.
Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Notice the importance of guarding your heart… Why? Because your LIFE is determined by it! Think that isn’t true? You wouldn’t put motor oil in your dishwasher, would you? Or dish detergent in your truck? What would happen if you did that?
But, we think that it doesn’t matter what we listen to… What we look at. “It doesn’t affect me,” we think.
Yet, Madison Avenue advertising firms spend BILLIONS of dollars each year to affect your buying decisions by putting their ads in front of you on TV. Somebody thinks it affects you.
God’s Word doesn’t just tell us that we ought to guard our hearts, but it tells us HOW… Read the next few verses:
Proverbs 4:24-27
Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.
Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Where you look is the direction you will head. I learned this lesson while motorcycle riding on North Georgia’s curvy mountain roads. If you keep your eyes on the road immediately in front of your bike, you will have great difficulty navigating the tight curves on that steep mountain… You will likely not be able to make your turn, lose control, and end up in a disaster. BUT, if you look farther ahead, THROUGH the curve and keep your eyes on where you WANT to be, rather than where you ARE, you will sail through much more easily. Where you look is the direction you will head!
Are your decisions resulting in growth, or stagnation? Are your actions resulting in steps in the directions you desire? Are you being transformed into HIS image? HE does the work in you… But WE make ourselves available to HIS work in us by keeping our eyes and lives focused in the right direction.
Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.