Reading this morning...Proverbs 4:23 "Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." It's funny, but I've read that many times, but some days the Word hits you differently than others.
It's really true. Picture a flowing spring of water...picture a hole that it comes from, as it runs along the ground making the stream. If you go to the source and pour in green food coloring, think about what would happen. It would turn the stream green or at least, greenish. Hopefully, it would run out or clear out, but it would effect it for a while. Imagine setting up an I.V. of green food coloring that dripped at a steady pace into the wellspring or the source...it would effect the spring, turning it greenish or green consistently...whether that's good or bad, depends on your perspective on green and food coloring.
Apply that to our heart, the source, and our life, the stream. We should be careful what we allow to dump into or to drip into our life, because it can turn it green or whatever...and as I said, the good or bad is dependent on your view of green, because what we allow into that wellspring of life can do either. Carelessly allowing a temporary thing or even an ongoing habit/activity to "drip" can drastically effect many areas of your life.
For many of us, the stream of life takes a turn around a tree, out of sight of the source of the stream, and looking at life there, we honestly can't tell why the life is effected in the way it is. Nothing is poured into the stream at that point...nothing is in the immediate vicinity, but the life is effected negatively or positively anyway. If it's negative and you are trying to solve it, it can be maddening...there is no cause, seemingly...nothing related to the direct issue...how do you fix it? You just can't find the cause at that location...the problem is that it was what was dropped in at the wellspring, the heart, seemingly having nothing to do with it, and the effects show up far from the site of the problem. It's just how it goes, and like it says in vs 19 of the same chapter, it can put you on a path of wickedness, that is darkness, and they "do not know what makes them stumble."
I picture standing determined guard over this spot of my life, making sure that whatever gets here, as best as I can make it happen, is Jim-tested and Jim-approved...better still, that Jim's test standards come from the Word of God. Because what gets there will color my life...there is no way to avoid it. Protect it.
Proverbs 4 is all about wisdom and it's got several cool deep nuggets that can shape your activity/thinking for the better in it...some of the verses I'm committing to memory right now are from here (incidentally, I just changed my Scripture memory process...awesome Android app called "Remember me"...free app, it will even speak the verse to you if you need it...try it out.)
Try it out...Proverbs 4, I mean...the Android app is optional. iPhone users are on their own. :)
Keep praying for all of us on the leadership team at Bay West Church, as we try to be the church of Jesus in Palm Bay.
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