Guarding our Hearts
Lately, I’ve felt like I need to make up for lost time. For many years, God was beckoning me to follow him down a specific path. But I chose not to trust Him. I only wanted to trust me.Letting go of the idol in my life, my career, sent me on the fast track to pressing into trusting God. When the biggest distraction is suddenly not there anymore, and when my identity has been stripped away; sitting in God’s presence is all of a sudden much easier.I’m getting off-track, though. Back to making up for lost time. I decided that if I watched less TV, this would be an effective way to win back some of the time over the last, oh, five to six years when God was asking me to go in a different direction.I came across some interesting statistics lately. Can you believe that on average, Americans spend more than four hours a day watching TV? This equates to two full months of TV watching per year!! (Organized Simplicity, pg 53.) I couldn't believe this with my own eyes. So I did the math, and it's true. Indeed, what a great way to make up for lost time!Lately, however, I realize there is a second benefit from less TV watching. And it has to do with guarding our hearts and our minds. Sure, this is a concept that we are well aware of at our house. When you are married to a man with a sordid sexual past, who by the grace of God is living a life of integrity, life changes forever. There is no cable, there are no questionable magazines. The list goes on and on.But what about me? What do I need to do to guard my heart? I’ve been a huge fan of the bachelor/bachelorette in the past, but I realize today that this show is not a wise use of my time nor am I guarding my heart when I watch it. And the magazines in the grocery check-out. Although I’d never buy one, I spend a good five minutes while waiting, flipping through it. Just think about what is entering my mind.This takes me to Nehemiah. In chapter 4, there is great progress as the Israelites built the wall to half of its height. And then the opposition heard of this progress and started their taunting.
And Nehemiah 4:9 says: “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”
Guards for the wall. Just as we should put guards in place for our hearts and our minds. And not to make up for lost time, but rather to protect ourselves. To protect our children. To protect our families. And chances are, for me, the TV, the Bachelorette, the magazines while checking out…this may just be scratching the surface.
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
What about you? What do you do to guard your heart and your mind? If nothing comes to mind, pray to God to reveal to you what you may be letting in that is destroying rather than rebuilding. It could be a friendship. A song. A magazine…