“Dear friend, listen well to my words;
tune your ears to my voice.
Keep my message in plain view at all times.
Concentrate! Learn it by heart!
Those who discover these words live, really live;
body and soul, they’re bursting with health.
Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that’s where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.” – Proverbs 4:20-27 (MSG)
What we consume (what we watch, what we listen to) not only influences us, it begins to mold us from the inside out. We absorb what we put our focus on, it begins to determine the state of our heart.
It’s a life-long commitment to put in place boundaries that protect the health of our heart, by guarding what we allow our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our bodies to participate in. If left to decide our own moral standard of what’s fitting for our eyes, ears, and bodies, we’ll easily head down a slippery slope of being led astray by our own feelings. But if Christ is at the center of our desires, then His Word and His Spirit are what will produce real life in us. Holding His goodness and His Truth as our moral standard and guideline for what and how we should put boundaries in place, allows us to be kept on a straight path forward. All else is subjective in comparison to the absolute truth of God’s Word – so let’s learn it by heart! Let’s be vigilant at protecting our heart, filling it with Truth and meditating on it daily.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
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