Our Source of Life

My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. Don't lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to one's whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don't let your lips talk deviously. Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established. Don't turn right or to the left; keep your feet away from evil. ~~~~~~~~ Proverbs 4:20-27~~~~~~

Each day as I spend time in God's word, I try to also read a chapter of Proverbs that goes along with the day of the month it is. As I sat reading these passages of scripture the other day, several words just kinda jumped off the page at me. I thought I would share with you today what God has shown me regarding our source of life.

The first thing that stuck out to me was-Don't lose sight of my sayings, keep them within your heart. God began to show me that even when I don't feel like spending time in His word, it is VITAL that I do so. Not because it is something that needs to be checked off my daily "to do" list, but because spending time in His word will cause me to reflect on certain scriptures that I need when I am facing difficult choices that need to be made. Keeping God's word in our hearts is a way to keep sin from creeping in so easily. Notice that I did not say we wouldn't sin, but that it will not be as easy for it to creep in. In order to keep God's word in our hearts, WE MUST READ!!! I hear people tell me all the time, "Oh, I just can't get into that reading the Bible thing." My answer to them, is then they really don't want to know who God or Jesus is, because THEY are the word.

The second thing that really stood out to me was that God's word is life and health to my whole body. Now I love word study, so I looked up both of these words in Hebrew (Hebrew because it is in the Old Testament, Greek if it is in the New Testament). The definition for life in Hebrew means living, raw, and fresh. The word health in Hebrew means deliverance. So if I spend time in God's word daily, I will experience fresh, raw, and living deliverance EVERY time I open the word and spend time with my savior. WOW!!! To know that deliverance can come when we spend time with God is just awesome in itself.

The third and final thing that God showed me was that I am to guard my heart because it is the source of life. My heart is where Jesus lives. He is my source and I am to guard and watch what goes in. If it is ANYTHING that is not pleasing to God, then we should not do it. Basically, the way that I can tell if it something I can do or not, I ask myself this question: " Could I or would I do this with Jesus standing right in front of me?" If I cannot answer this question with an absolute yes, then I do not do it. Period. No questions to ask.

My challenge to you this day, is #1 spend time with God every day. Show Him how grateful you are to Him for the life that He has given you. #2 Be careful what you do as a Christian. THere are eyes watching our every move waiting for us to fail. Let's show them something different and worth standing for. #3 Just love Jesus. Fellowship with Him is what He wants more than anything in this world!