In Proverbs 4, I found some amazing and inspiring wisdom this morning, and I wanted to share it with you. “My son,” Solomon begins. “Be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.” In other words, pay attention. Listen. “Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.” He says don’t forget what I’m telling you. Don’t let my words go in one ear and out the other. Store them inside your heart. And then, he offers a promise. “For they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh.” My words are powerful, he says. I am offering you more than words, I’m offering you life, and good health. You just have to listen.
Are you listening?
I admit, I can be a really bad listener sometimes. My mouth tends to get away from me a lot, and my ears, well I guess I just sometimes forget they’re there! But the Word encourages me to remember. And it isn’t about remembering with my brain. It’s about remembering with my heart. Because we must keep our heart “with all vigilance,” the father says to the son in the next verse, “for out of it flow the springs of life.”
That means, that whether you’re paying attention or not, your heart is sending out messages. It could be sending out bitterness, or envy, or anger, or any number of negative things, or it could be sending out kindness, and love, and peace. Chances are, if you aren’t intentional about filling your heart with good things, it might just be the bad things that are coming out.
Perhaps you are in a great season right now. Maybe you are surrounded by encouraging people, by good friends, by comforting family – you’ve got people feeding great things into you. Or perhaps you are in a season of frustration, surrounding by negativity and discouragement, and in desperate need of love and encouragement! Either way, what is going on in your heart? Are you storing good things, or bad things? Are you coasting through life, or you just struggling to get through today? Or maybe you are living intentionally, and maybe things are flowing just right. But I still have a question for you to consider, a question I encourage you to talk about with the Lord. What is the state of your heart?
Sometimes, I think we neglect our heart. It’s like a cup out in the elements. Subject to wind, rain, storms, brutal sun, dust, mud, everything. But we have the choice to take our cup and bring it into shelter, in the Lord’s temple. Because guess what, that temple is inside of us. If you believe in Jesus, if you accepted him into your heart, you also accepted his garden. You have a garden inside your heart! And so, it is up to you what you do with your heart. You can grow all kinds of plants and bushes and trees. You can have a rose garden if you like.
I started to think of my heart as a box today. A box of treasure. No matter what season I am in, no matter what my circumstances or surroundings look like, I can store things in that box. I can store all of the good gifts that God gives me - His kindness, His love, His joy, His presence.
Are you listening?
I admit, I can be a really bad listener sometimes. My mouth tends to get away from me a lot, and my ears, well I guess I just sometimes forget they’re there! But the Word encourages me to remember. And it isn’t about remembering with my brain. It’s about remembering with my heart. Because we must keep our heart “with all vigilance,” the father says to the son in the next verse, “for out of it flow the springs of life.”
That means, that whether you’re paying attention or not, your heart is sending out messages. It could be sending out bitterness, or envy, or anger, or any number of negative things, or it could be sending out kindness, and love, and peace. Chances are, if you aren’t intentional about filling your heart with good things, it might just be the bad things that are coming out.
Perhaps you are in a great season right now. Maybe you are surrounded by encouraging people, by good friends, by comforting family – you’ve got people feeding great things into you. Or perhaps you are in a season of frustration, surrounding by negativity and discouragement, and in desperate need of love and encouragement! Either way, what is going on in your heart? Are you storing good things, or bad things? Are you coasting through life, or you just struggling to get through today? Or maybe you are living intentionally, and maybe things are flowing just right. But I still have a question for you to consider, a question I encourage you to talk about with the Lord. What is the state of your heart?
Sometimes, I think we neglect our heart. It’s like a cup out in the elements. Subject to wind, rain, storms, brutal sun, dust, mud, everything. But we have the choice to take our cup and bring it into shelter, in the Lord’s temple. Because guess what, that temple is inside of us. If you believe in Jesus, if you accepted him into your heart, you also accepted his garden. You have a garden inside your heart! And so, it is up to you what you do with your heart. You can grow all kinds of plants and bushes and trees. You can have a rose garden if you like.
I started to think of my heart as a box today. A box of treasure. No matter what season I am in, no matter what my circumstances or surroundings look like, I can store things in that box. I can store all of the good gifts that God gives me - His kindness, His love, His joy, His presence.
James says that every good and perfect gift is from above. God gives us gifts everywhere we look. In His Word we find treasure, from His mouth we find treasure, inside those around us we find treasure. It's a matter of looking and listening. And then it's a matter of attending to your heart, putting those gifts in a safe place.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of living accidentally. I'm tired of feeling like a victim of a tongue, a victim of my actions, and a victim of my circumstances. I want to live intentionally, and make deposits into my heart, so that I actually have some useful currency to spend!
What will you choose to do with your heart?