Guard
your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before
you. Mark out a straight
path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Proverbs
4:23-27 (NLT)
The Proverb writer sounds suspiciously like my
mother when she constantly reminded me as a child to remember Whose you are.
(I know Mom didn’t write the Proverbs…but she
knew and trusted them enough to quote them to me often.)
The Super Bowl was yesterday and somebody
won. I can’t comment on whether it was
New England or Seattle, because I am actually writing this on Friday. But the story of “deflated” footballs was big
in the last two weeks of the sports world.
When New England played Indianapolis for the AFC championship title on
January 18th, eleven of the balls used turned out to be
underinflated. Supposedly that gives the
quarterback better control when throwing passes.
They’re calling it “Deflategate”; there are
theories as to who may be the culprit.
There are always theories.
The primary theory was that somebody didn’t
guard the cache of footballs. Gee…ya
think?
Now, everyone knows football is big business,
and in every arena of life the possibility of profit means someone will find a
way to enhance the profit margin. Part
of the game!
Back to my mother’s proverbs…life, and our
approach to it has often been called a “game”.
We know it’s too serious a matter to think of the substance and actions
of our lives as “a game” – however, there are comparisons.
The main analogy for this morning is of guarding
the ball. While the footballs for the
championship Super Bowl are under the NFL’s tightest security as of today,
and are checked and re-checked for proper inflation to make sure the game will
be fairly contested this Sunday…are our spiritual lives guarded that way.
Do we take seriously the Scripture’s admonition
to guard
our hearts above all else?
Is our language filtered to remove
the impurities of the coarseness we hear in everyday culture?
Are we intentional (eyes “fixed”) on
the goal of becoming more like Christ?
Is following evil given the red
flag?
Do we mark out a straight path of
straight living?
Are we living like this to remember Whose
we are, so we can live like our Master?
Life isn’t really a “game” – it’s much bigger
than the Super Bowl. Our lives are a
reflection of He Who created us in His image.
Our lives are sacred and a holy trust.
Guard the heart that steers your life; don’t let
anything about your goal to serve Christ get deflated.
For You Today
Lift a “Proverbs
prayer” today; ask the Father to help you guard your heart.
Remember – if your
heart, the “quarterback” of your life, calls the right plays, and you execute
with prayer, the end result will be a life of beautiful obedience…touchdown!
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