Skip to main content

Vigilance

         Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.  Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:23-27)

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)

  Some people think that the heart is a well of good, clear water, and the only guarding it needs is to protect it from evil outside influences. What Solomon tells us here is that we should also guard what we permit to come out of it, because our hearts are the source of what we do. Yesterday, I had a conversation with someone of a “woke” perspective. At one point, she told me that being woke means (among other things) that we recognize that our perspectives aren’t the only perspectives out there and that we accept the fact that we might be wrong. She went on to inform me that I could not be more wrong in my understanding of what “woke” means and that only someone who was very damaged could possibly see anything about being woke that isn’t positive.

     Before we snicker up our sleeves, woke folk are the only ones who cannot see the harm they do. A great deal of harm has been done in the name of Christianity by those who proclaimed themselves to be Christians. A great deal of harm has been done by every group of people out there since time began, and undoubtedly, the vast majority of the groups believed they were doing good. Some may have been doing some good in some ways.

But the reality is that, whether we like it or not, our good intentions often pave the way to Hell. So when Scripture tells us to guard our hearts, it’s as much to keep our evil from escaping as it is to keep evil out.

The same is true about our mouths. For me, the best example of accepted perversity is comedy. More often than not, what is meant to be funny shames, demeans, or objectifies someone, or corrupts someone’s opinion of them.

The eyes, likewise, are a problem. We just want to see. Inquiring minds want to know. There are so many ways that we end up in trouble. Vigilance is needed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more