(Proverbs 4:23-27)
When I was a teenager, I heard
the children’s song “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be
careful little ears what you hear. Oh, be careful little feet where you
go.” I did not know at that time that that was based on a Bible passage.
Proverbs 4:23-27, teaches us how to guard our hearts.
Four principles are outlined here:
1. Keep
Keep means “to guard.” The word heart is talking about the soul of man - his mind, his emotions, and his will. The idea is guard what you think about. Then he goes on to say to do it with all diligence. Work at it. It is not easy to guard your thoughts. However, what you think about will affect your life. Therefore, it is very important that we learn how to guard our thinking process. He does not just give us a simple command to guard what we think about; He tells us how.
2. Guard what you hear
“Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee.” In our world, we are constantly bombarded with different thoughts and philosophies on the radio, on the television, in music, beyond that, on a personal basis through gossip and backbiting. Now we have the world of the internet and ipods. Guard what you listen to, because everything you listen to will affect what you think about.
3. Guard what you see
In verse 25, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” In Las Vegas, we have billboards that are very immoral. I tell our men to put down their sin visors to guard what they look at. It is so easy to be led astray by our eyes by billboards, Facebook, the internet, and television. Remember Jesus said if I look on a woman to lust after her, I have committed adultery in my heart. Be careful to guard where your eyes go.
4. Guard where you go
Then lastly, in verse 26, he tells us to, “Ponder the path of thy feet” or guard where we go. Do not go where temptation abounds. If being somewhere leads you to do wrong, do not go. It is not a wise thing for a man who is battling with drunkenness to go to a restaurant that is perpetually promoting liquor. Just like, it is not a wise thing for someone that has a gambling problem to make Las Vegas their home. I need to guard what I think about. How do I do that? I guard what I listen to, I guard what I watch, and I guard where I go. Do not sway from these principles. Keep them, and it will keep you from evil.
Keep means “to guard.” The word heart is talking about the soul of man - his mind, his emotions, and his will. The idea is guard what you think about. Then he goes on to say to do it with all diligence. Work at it. It is not easy to guard your thoughts. However, what you think about will affect your life. Therefore, it is very important that we learn how to guard our thinking process. He does not just give us a simple command to guard what we think about; He tells us how.
2. Guard what you hear
“Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee.” In our world, we are constantly bombarded with different thoughts and philosophies on the radio, on the television, in music, beyond that, on a personal basis through gossip and backbiting. Now we have the world of the internet and ipods. Guard what you listen to, because everything you listen to will affect what you think about.
3. Guard what you see
In verse 25, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” In Las Vegas, we have billboards that are very immoral. I tell our men to put down their sin visors to guard what they look at. It is so easy to be led astray by our eyes by billboards, Facebook, the internet, and television. Remember Jesus said if I look on a woman to lust after her, I have committed adultery in my heart. Be careful to guard where your eyes go.
4. Guard where you go
Then lastly, in verse 26, he tells us to, “Ponder the path of thy feet” or guard where we go. Do not go where temptation abounds. If being somewhere leads you to do wrong, do not go. It is not a wise thing for a man who is battling with drunkenness to go to a restaurant that is perpetually promoting liquor. Just like, it is not a wise thing for someone that has a gambling problem to make Las Vegas their home. I need to guard what I think about. How do I do that? I guard what I listen to, I guard what I watch, and I guard where I go. Do not sway from these principles. Keep them, and it will keep you from evil.
Your Friend,
David Teis
David Teis
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