What is in my heart?
Who I follow- what I read- the thoughts I allow myself to ponder: these all make their way into my heart.
Proverbs 4:23 says: ABOVE ALL ELSE guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.
What I allow in my heart matters.
A story in Exodus shares the danger of an unguarded heart...
God's people were enslaved by the Egyptians. Their cries reached God and so He raised up a man to set them free- his name was Moses. Moses went to Pharoah (historians believe him to be Ramses II) and told him to set the Israelites free. Over and over God gave chance after chance but Pharoah's heart was hardened and so he refused.
The danger of blindly allowing anything into an unguarded heart is that it becomes blinded to sin. The heart is a processor- it doesn't control what goes in or out it only processes the data. So garbage in- garbage out. This is why we are instructed to guard it.
We learn through the example God gives in Pharoah that God will give a person up to their hardened heart and allow them to experience the consequence of their actions. While God is sovereign- He has given us free will- free will gives the choice.
We learn that each time Pharoah declined Moses' ask, the consequences got worse until the final consequence led to the death of the first born sons of Egypt- including Pharoah's own son.
It's hard to reconcile the carnage but the wages of sin is death. God doesn't desire death for His beloved- He gave us LIFE but we choose death when we turn away from Him.
What is in your heart? Who are you listening to? What thoughts are you allowing to plant in your heart? I know for me, I am turning to the Father for the answer matters.
Father we ask that You search our hearts and find any offensive way within us. Help us to take our thoughts captive and guide us into righteousness as You lead us into Your way everlasting. Thank You for cleansing us Lord and showing us the way to You. May our hearts glorify You in all we do.
In Jesus' Name AMEN