The Spring and the Stream (Proverbs 4:23)

More than feelings

Today we tell our kids to be careful who they give their heart to, meaning emotions. The Hebrew word is bigger than that. It's your thoughts, desires, will, and feelings all together. DeWayne calls it your computer, the engine of who you are.

Why guard it?

Shepherds guarded flocks because predators were real. Solomon says to guard your heart above everything else because the world and the enemy are after it every waking minute.

Spring and stream

Nobody can walk into your office and inspect your heart. What they see is the stream that flows from it: how you talk, how you treat people, what you do with your time. That stream is the testimony the world reads.

From the group

Participants offered practical guards. One works at being unoffendable. Another is careful about what plays on his TV and radio, since the small daily things add up until you can barely see the line. As DeWayne put it, guarding is active, not passive.

Try this

• Audit one input this week, like a show, a feed, or a playlist.
• Ask someone close to you what your stream looks like from the outside.