Guard your heart!

Since I started following the events surrounding the terrorist attacks in Kenya, I have been crying and asking why?!! Why would someone see a child and shoot at them? Why would someone kill a heavily pregnant woman? Why would you shoot an innocent man who is so afraid and begging for his life? Why, just why???

I have no doubt these terrorists were not always so bitter and evil. They must have once been happy children, who had dreams of doing great and wonderful things. Sadly somewhere along the line, they allowed themselves to become twisted murderous savages by absorbing hateful ideas.

Like these terrorists, I think sometimes we find ourselves deviating from the lives we planned (and God’s purpose) by the things we allow into our lives. For instance, no sensible married man or woman would want to wreck his/her marriage by committing adultery. No one would want to be caught stealing or doing some other terrible crime. But too often, even among Christians, we find ourselves embroiled in one controversy or the other. How and why do these things happen? Is it really the devil, like some people like to claim? No, we allowed it, little by little by looking at and listening to the wrong things.

The path to sin and scandalous behaviour often doesn’t happen overnight, it is a gradual process. It is first conceived in the mind by what we see and hear.  We are living in an era where we have unlimited access to vast amounts of information. As wonderful as the internet is, not everything it holds is beneficial. It is our responsibility to determine what to view. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”  Basically, this passage is just telling us that what you allow into your heart will eventually manifest in the open. If you view pornographic images/videos, it is only a matter of time before you commit fornication, adultery, rape, or some other sexual sin. In the same way if you look at stories that promote ill gotten wealth, or other get-rich-quick schemes, you may find it difficult to resist the temptation of theft. This happens by the mind becoming de-sensitized to what was once repulsive. As soon as your mind gets used to it, your body will follow suit when the opportunity presents itself.

It is our duty, not God’s duty or our pastor’s job, to guard our heart.  And we have to take this job seriously. Just like a guard at any office building only lets in people who are deemed safe inside, so too should we judge whether any information we view is deemed safe for our hearts/minds.

So I encourage, be careful what you permit into your heart/mind. It is a small price to pay for the destructive effects that come from an accumulation of junk. Be careful the blogs and websites you visit, be careful also of the friends you keep and the things you listen to or view. No one ever determines to become a deviant, however if you allow anything into your life, it may just be a matter of life before you become one. Remember “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7a. Don't allow a trivial thing like the stuff you read and view, destroy God's best for you. Your destiny is too important for you to settle for junk. Make the effort to listen to and watch things that build you. 

You can do it, God's grace is sufficient for you!

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Image1 courtesy:http://alwaysyahweh.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/guard-your-heart.jpg?w=320 

Image2 courtesy:http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120622214129/mario/images/d/d4/Beanbean_Guard_Artwork_-_Mario_%26_Luigi_Superstar_Saga.png
Image3 courtesy:http://3.s3.envato.com/files/51433722/man%20security_preview.jpg