07

Jump Start # 1971

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1971

James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

Now that the initial shock of the church shooting in Texas has been felt, the media discussion now turns to how this should have been prevented. Fingers are being pointed and there is plenty of blame to pass around. And out of all places, a shooting that took place during a Sunday worship in a church building, some are wondering what good prayers did. Some have even mocked that there has been enough prayers and now it’s time for action.

It’s hard for a secular and atheistic media to understand praying to God. I guess some thought that praying would provide magical body armor and no one would have been injured. Behind most of this thinking lies a deeper and troubling thought, If God allows a person to be killed while worshipping Him, where is He? And, Does He care? Or, deeper yet, ‘Does He really exist?’ If a person isn’t safe in a house of God, then what presence, power or even hope do we have in God? If we are on our own, why even bother with God if He is not going to come through and protect us?

Those that have little room for God in their thinking, will use this shooting as case in point that God doesn’t help us. What little spiritual thinking they have, will be consumed with the thought of children being killed in a church shooting. Some will mock God for this. Some will give up on prayer because of this. Some will be satisfied with their atheistic beliefs because of this. “If God allows worshippers to killed in church, then is there even a God?”

There are layers and layers of unrealistic expectations, misinformed minds, and a complete missing of what the Bible teaches. Luke 13 tells of the Galileans who were murdered while sacrificing to God. These same questions could have been and may have been asked back then.

So, let’s walk through some basic principles that we know.

First, God as given us a free will. This began in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had choices. God told them what to do to live. He warned them about the wrong choices. Free will allows a heart to follow what it wants. Had God stopped Adam from eating the forbidden fruit, God would have also shut down Adam’s free will. God wants us to follow Him by faith, not force. God wants us to love Him by choice, and not because we have no other choice.

So, Adam took the wrong fruit and ate. God allowed that. Cain picked up a rock and threw it at his brother, Abel and it killed him. God allowed that. God allowed the people in Noah’s day to think evil continually. God allowed the first century world to crucify His Son. And God allowed an evil person to enter a church building last Sunday with a gun and kill people. Why didn’t God stop Him? The world expects that. Would the world expect God to stop people from drinking alcohol at the ballgame on the Saturday before the shooting? Would the world expect God to stop people from telling a lie to cover up the wrong that they have done? Would the world expect God to get them out of bed and get them down to a church building on Sunday when they don’t want to be there? Just how much of our free will do we want God to take away? Do we want to be able to say anything we feel like? That’s free will. Do we want to be able to do what we want? That’s free will. Removing choices and forcing people to do what they may not want to do, sounds more like slavery than it does devotion and commitment. Do you want God to force you to apologize or forgive? Do you want God to force you to be obedient? Do you want God to make you do what is right?

Second, the thought is mockingly made that prayers didn’t help the people in the Texas church. Do we know that prayers didn’t help? Not everyone was killed. Do we know that prayers were offered? Things happened so fast and so violently that maybe prayers weren’t offered. Our passage today reminds us that the prayers of a righteous man accomplishes much. Prayer works. It is the prayer of a righteous man. Praying after things have happened can’t alter what has been done. Praying just when I am in a desperate need and then forgetting God the rest of the time, won’t do much. The righteous man is one who knows, believes and walks with God. He is right with God. His thoughts surround pleasing God. He is one who understands God and loves God. Unrighteous people praying may not move God. God may wonder why are you crying out in the storms when you are not thankful for the sunshine? We don’t know what Heaven heard that day. We don’t know what all God did that day.

Third, a lack of Bible knowledge leads some to think that God ought to and still works through miracles. This misguided thinking has led them to the impression that God has a shield around His people and no harm can touch them. Some have just enough Bible knowledge to be dangerous to their own good. Miracles served a purpose. They were to prove Jesus and His word. That’s been done. It’s accomplished. We don’t need miracles when we have a verse! A walk through the Scriptures reminds us that it was God’s people who were in lion’s dens, fiery furnaces and prisons. It was God’s people who were killed by the sword and beheaded. God never promised that His people would not be touched by harm. In fact, Jesus told His followers that they would be hated because of Him. Parents, Jesus warned, would turn their own kids in to the authorities for arrest and punishment because they believed in Jesus. Look at the Scriptures, these things are there.

Fourth, this will never be Heaven. This world is broken by sin. This world is caving in. Why are we continually shocked by sinful behavior when sin dominates this world. When told about the Galileans who were murdered, Jesus told the audience to repent. He didn’t say that the Galileans should repent, but those talking to Jesus should. Our sins contribute to the brokenness of this world. We need to be walking with God. We need to be righteous.

Finally, it’s hard for a secular and atheistic world to blame a mass killer. Isn’t this just the consequences of living without any rules? Isn’t this survival of the fittest? If we are nothing more than evolved animals, what makes any of this wrong? It’s hard to point fingers at a Hitler whose government wanted to eliminate certain people. It was what his society wanted. Without God. Without accountability. Without a higher standard. Without being anything more than a animal, why is this wrong? Animals kill fellow animals all the time. That’s what they do. If that’s all that we are, why is any of this wrong? In the atheistic world, this is as good as it will ever get. There is nothing beyond death, in their minds. There is nothing to hope for outside of what we now see. A violent, selfish world is what atheism gives us. This is not the way God intended life to be. God made us separate from animals. We are not a part of the animal kingdom. We are made in the image of God. We have a conscience and a soul. We can rise up and do better. We can control our thoughts, words and actions. We can walk righteously with God. It’s choices. Animals run on instinct. We run on conscience. Atheism has fried the conscience of unbelievers. This is why the world can say anything offensive, wear anything offensive and do anything offensive and they do not understand why people are upset. We are upset because we can do better. We are connected to one another.

The shooter in Texas preached atheism. He lived and he died without God. His choices reflected that. This morning, he now sees what a fool he was and that God is. He wasted his life believing something that isn’t true. He now understands that death didn’t end his life. He lives and now he has no free will, no choices and no hope.

Psalms 14 begins with, “The fool says that there is no God.” He can say it. Free will allows that. He can die believing that. But he will immediately understand why he is a fool. Facing God who he has denied and blasphemed all his life, knowing that his future is an eternity without God.

Does prayer work? Yes. Prayer is not getting what I want, but what God wants. I continue to pray for those families in Texas. I also pray for those who want to give up on God because of this. May they take a serious look at what the Bible really says. God prepares us for an eternity with Him, not an eternity without Him, doing what we want here.

There is hope in troubled times!

Roger

06

Jump Start # 1970

Posted on November 6, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1970

Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”

 

Another shooting has taken place in our country. This time, on a Sunday morning and in a church building. Many killed. Many wounded. Details will come out about the cause and motive. But you and I know the cause. It’s a world that no longer respects life, follows God nor cares about one another. The troubles of a broken world keep mounting. These mass killings are happening too much, nearly every month. It’s not guns. There was a truck in NYC that mowed down several. It’s sick and twisted hearts and souls that are lost and have no regard for life.

 

There are a few places that we still think ought to be off limits to wrong, and one is a house of worship. People minding their own business, peaceably worshipping God and terror strikes. Immediately our verse comes to mind. We’d like to think that when it is our time to leave this place, we will be surrounded by family, it will be a loving and memorable moment. That’s movies. It may happen as the result of violence, or a car accident. It may happen not as we thought it would be.

 

There are several lessons that come from this latest shooting.

 

First, one must live each day ready to see God. We need to be living thankfully and obediently towards God. Our lives ought to reflect that they have been touched by God’s grace. I hate what this world is turning into. I hate that my generation is handing a world to my grandchildren that is going to be fearful and not trusting of others. Life is precious. Life is a gift from God. We need to stop putting off what needs to be done. We need to say, “I love you,” more. We need to be serious about our walk with God. We must get about doing what needs to be done in our homes and in our congregations.

 

Second, death isn’t the end nor something to be fear as a child of God. Death is the doorway that allows us into the next room. For the believer, death is welcomed. It means that he is through with this place and all of it’s problems. He is welcomed into the arms of Jesus. We get so fixated with death that we forget that there is something beyond death. Death is merely a process, like birth, that takes us from one room to the next. Death isn’t the end of the story. This deranged shooter in Texas that died, either by his own hands or in a shoot out, found out immediately that it wasn’t over. It’s never over. There is no ‘the end’ to our story. We live on. Connecting to our first point, those that are walking with Jesus, death is welcomed and seen as a way to be with the Lord. Those who don’t know God, death is to be feared. It’s not the death, but the eternity that is found afterwards. A person doesn’t go to Heaven because they were a victim of crime. A person doesn’t go to Heaven because they died trying to help others. Heaven is for those who have chosen to walk with God. They have put God at the top of their lists and the top of their hearts. Their lives illustrate that. They are forgiving. They are kind. They are helpful. Death is never the end.

 

Third, our country continues to be shocked by senseless brutality. Folks do not see that this is where evolutionary and atheistic thinking leads to. Life without God isn’t pretty, fair nor kind. Life, with no accountability except to self, ends up doing whatever a person feels like. No standards. No rules. No guidelines. No examples. Without foundations under us, storms will cause us to collapse. The only real foundation is God. Congress will be pressured to pass some laws to prevent more killings. It won’t work. TV talk shows will analyze what needs to be fixed, but no one will mention God. That’s the problem. Lives without God are without any direction, purpose or restraints. A person will do whatever they feel like.

 

Fourth, it is time for congregations to get serious about security. We do not live in Mayberry anymore. Little churches in little towns, like what happened yesterday in Texas, reminds us that this could happen anywhere. Leaders in congregations need to get past the 1950’s thinking. The weekly contribution should not be taken right back up to the front where people can see all the money just sitting there. Immediately, put it in a secure place. Someone ought to be in the lobby to watch the doors. Front doors may need to be locked after services begin, which means some families need to begin getting there on time. Discussions need to take place about what should be done in case of an emergency. Get the head out of the sand and realize our world is ugly, dangerous and we need to take steps to help our people be safe.

 

Finally, because of these shootings, we can live in fear, or we can walk by faith. If we are living righteously and walking with God, the worst thing that can happen is someone takes my life. Jesus said do not fear the one who can take your life and do no more. Events like the Texas shooting can make us mean and hateful toward others. We can’t let that happen. It can make us want to keep all outsiders out. We can’t let that happen. We must continue to reach the lost. We must continue to let Christ live in our hearts. We must continue to be kind, forgiving and helpful. We let the enemy win when they cause us to be changed or to live in fear. Be smart. Take precautions. Let’s continue to live righteously and joyously, knowing that some day we are out of this place and in a place that will forever be secure and good.

 

Sinful people making wrong choices too often touches the lives of innocent and good people. When will this stop? When the Lord comes and this world ends. Until then, we continue on. We will meet Sunday. We will worship. Fear will not stop us. Bad people will not prevent us. And we live, knowing it won’t be long and all of this will be over. This certainly isn’t Heaven.

 

Our prayers are for the families that have lost loved ones. May their hearts not turn to anger. May they find comfort in the Lord.

 

Come, Lord Jesus!

 

Roger

 

03

Jump Start # 1969

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1969

Job 11:7-8 “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper that Sheol, what can you know?”

Zophar, one of the three friends that showed up to comfort the hurting and grieving Job makes these profound observations from our verse today. Can a person really know God? It is so easy to think that we have God figured out. It’s easy to think that God thinks like I do.

Consider God’s amazing grace. We first learn of this through the Scriptures. We see God forgiving the unfaithful David. We see God not only forgiving, but turning the murderous Saul into the central figure and writer after the Gospels. There is just a short bridge from those pages to our own lives. We look and remember the foolish, sinful and wrong things that we have done. We look at how selfish we have been. We realize how many people we have hurt. And, yet, here we stand among the people of God, forgiven and accepted. It is amazing!

Consider the justice of God. It’s difficult to understand why God stuck Uzzah dead when he reached out and tried to steady the ark of the covenant. He wasn’t being rebellious. He wasn’t willful. He was trying to protect it. God’s word said not to touch it, but under the circumstances, that seemed to be the right thing to do. I expect, had I been in his shoes, I would have done the same. I know what would have happened to me, if I did. We understand opening the earth for the rebellious sons of Korah. We get the lying Ananias and Sapphira dropping dead. God gave Jonah a second chance. We wonder why God didn’t let the giant fish just digest Jonah. It’s hard for us to understand the justice and mercy of God.

Consider God’s choosing of the apostles. They were good men, but leaders? Who do fishermen lead? What public speaking experiences did they ever do? How were they to stand toe-to-toe with the elite intellectuals of their day? They were not book men, they were fishermen. As you travel with these twelve through the Gospels, we see too many times that they simply were not getting what Jesus was saying. Multiple times Jesus questioned their faith. They said the wrong things too many times. Jesus never brought up others to replace these twelve. He never had a backup team. The future of the kingdom was in their hands. And, again, what a short bridge we find from those apostles to us. The kingdom today is in our hands. Misrepresent it, abuse it, destroy it, let it be idle, refuse to do what we ought to do and the kingdom stagnates and suffers. We are God’s hands, feet and eyes today. God gives the increase as we plant and water the sown seed. Yet if we no longer sow the seed, and we allow our Gospel light to become extinguished and we blend in with the world, the effectiveness of God’s kingdom withers. But, when we are busy putting God first in our lives and our living to the word and are letting our light shine, through us God gives great and incredible growth. People listen. People learn. People come. People are made into disciples. It’s God’s work but it happens through our hands. We are His tools. What an amazing thing that we can be part of changing someone’s eternal destiny. Generations of families can be changed because someone became a follower of Jesus and influenced the rest of his family. This is incredible.

Consider God’s eternal home, Heaven. God has a place for us with Him. God wants us to be with Him. It’s not for a short visit. It’s not a weekend get-a-way. It’s not a quick walk through to see the fine things in God’s Heaven. No, Heaven becomes our home. His home will be our home. Holy. Perfect. Glorious. Without anything wrong. And God welcomes us to this place. Where I am, there you may be. He’s been to our world. It wasn’t much to see. He saw disease. He saw abuse. He saw evil. He saw the worst that we have to offer. He saw the love of His mother, Mary. He saw the kindness of Martha and Mary. He saw the friendship of the apostles. But those lovely moments were always interrupted by reminders of the brokenness of this world. Sin, evil and wrong always had a way of showing up. They still do. He has been to our world. Now, we will be invited to His world. How different that world will be from here. No sun. No death. No pain. No worry. No fear. No evil. No Satan. And it won’t be for just a short visit. That’s the end of the line for us. That’s where this journey takes us. It is amazing that the holy God would do that for us.

Consider the avenue of prayer. We can talk to God Himself. Any time. Any where. No one knows us better than God does. No one loves us more than God does. He is never too busy for us. He is never too good for us. He is never tied up with someone else and we have to wait our turn. He never sends someone else to represent Him. You and I cannot pick up the phone and talk to the President. Won’t happen. There are so many channels and so many people we would have to work our way through. A parent can’t just pick up the phone and call the school principal. The first to answer the phone would be the school secretary. Then, based upon the urgency of the call and the schedule of the principal, we may or may not get through. Prayer doesn’t work that way. There is no one to take God’s calls for Him. You talk directly to God. Anywhere. Anytime. Even when you have messed up and you are wanting mercy. Even when others have no words for you, God is there. Lying in a hospital bed, waiting for surgery, you can talk to God. Sitting in a funeral home, waiting for the funeral to begin, you can talk to God. Sitting in traffic, you can talk to God. When you are upset, you can talk to God. When you don’t understand, you can talk to God. There is never a place and never a time which you cannot pray. The student can pray in school, even though public prayer is no longer allowed. You can pray in a stadium full of fans. You can pray at a concert. You can pray from your bed. You can pray with a smile on your face or with tears in your eyes. He is never out of touch. He is never at a place where He cannot be reached. You are never alone, you are never truly on your own, when you have God.

Zophar was on to something when he said, “who can discover the depths of God.” There is no ceiling to limit God. There is no end to God. Amazing! Wonderful! Powerful! Holy! And, with all of that, He is interested in you.

Roger

02

Jump Start # 1968

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1968

Numbers 11:14-15 “I alone am not able to carry all this people; because it is too burdensome for me. So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”

Moses was fed up. He had enough. Israel was complaining. God was angry and consumed some with fire. But the complaining continued. Crying in the doorway of their tents, the people wanted meat. They were tired of manna. And people do what they normally do, they take their complaints to the person in charge. Here it was Moses. And now Moses was burned out. It was too much for him. Today, a person would just walk away and not come back. He’d quit. That happens. It happens at work. It happens in the home and it happens in the church. Preachers quit. Shepherds quit. I’m through. No more.

 

Moses, instead of quitting, had a prayer for God. He said, “please kill me at once.” Just kill me! That’s one prayer in the Bible I haven’t prayed. It comes from a heart that is overwhelmed and doesn’t see any solution.

 

The young mother at home with a bunch of little kids and she is fed up of all the fussing, messes and chasing them down. The house looks like a war zone, even though she is trying her best to keep things picked up. Her husband comes home from work and wonders what all she had done. Her look could kill him. Mamma needs a break.

 

The preacher that is buried with work. So many people need his attention. So many things need to be done. He has so many irons in the fire and feels stretched in so many ways, that he feels the quality of his work suffers. There is too much to do. He begins feeling like Elijah, who thought he was the only one still walking with the Lord. He didn’t know about the other thousands. Frustrated, overwhelmed, buried with things to do, and someone dares to say, “What do you do with all your time, since you only work on Sundays.” His look could kill the guy.

 

Shepherds can feel overwhelmed. There are so many fires to be put out among the flock. There are people that need personal attention. Then there are serious planning meetings and mentoring future leaders. All of this takes time. All of this is consuming.

 

And the words of Moses echo through the air, “Lord, just kill me.”

 

The problem of burnout is very real. The Bible might use the words, “lose heart,” or, “weary,” to describe what we think of as burnout. It’s a mental, emotional and spiritual weariness. It’s carrying the load when you feel like you can’t take another step. It’s worry what would happen if you didn’t do this, who would? What then can be done? How do we prevent burnout?

 

  • The Lord didn’t kill Moses. The following verses, God sets up a leadership structure for Moses. Appoint 70 men, and let them hear the complaints. Moses would deal with the big stuff. What the Lord was doing was teaching Moses and us the valuable lesson of delegating. Get others involved. Get others trained. Pass some things on to others, so you can focus upon what you are really good at. Develop a dependable team. Work together.

 

  • It is good to get away and rest the mind. The Lord took the apostles to a secluded place on the sea. They were reflecting, recharging and connecting. They traveled in such a way, that the people on the shore saw where they were headed and ran ahead of them to await them. That tells us that they weren’t isolated. The Lord could have taken the boat out into the middle and no one would have seen them. Seclusion is not isolation. Get away to rest the mind, refocus upon what your job and role is, and think of better ways to do what you are doing.

 

  • Sharpen the axe! That’s a thought from both Ecclesiastes and the world of lumberjacks. A woodsman is chopping and chopping wood. The axe becomes dull and he must exert more energy. He is getting tired. If he stops to sharpen the axe, he won’t be cutting any lumber, but he can come back and cut more, easier. We need to keep sharp. We need to read to keep fresh. We need to be around those who bring out the best in us. We need to be encouraged. Chop, chop, chop, or take some moments and sharpen that axe!

 

  • When Mary anointed the Lord with the costly perfume before His crucifixion, Judas and others scorned her. They claimed the perfume could have been sold and the money used to help the poor. The Lord defended her and said, “she has done what she could.” What a great statement for us. She didn’t do it all. She couldn’t. She couldn’t go to the cross for us. She couldn’t walk on water. But she did what she could. No one can do it all. But we can find out what we are good at, and then, do what we can.

 

  • Finally, it helps to pray. That’s what Moses did. His prayer, “Kill me,” reveals how low he had sunk. But talking to God, seeking Heaven’s help is valuable. God can open doors. God can help.

 

These thoughts come from a class I used this week to share with young preachers. Burnout leads to many preachers quitting. It’s real. It’s a problem. And for most of us preachers, we don’t tell anyone for fear that we appear to be whining or complaining. The load is heavy for those in leadership roles. They care so much. They want to do all that they can. They are never satisfied. They want the best from everyone. It steals their sleep at night. It ruins their appetite. It follows them throughout the day. What needs to be done. What isn’t right. What could be so much better.

 

How is your preacher doing? Do you know? What do you think he’d tell you? How about the elders? How are they doing? Could it be that you help them some? Could you encourage them some? Could you sit down with them and let them know how you feel about them? Could it be all that they need is someone who notices and appreciates?

 

Poor Moses. Just kill me, is how he felt. Let’s do what we can to keep our workers from getting to that point. Let’s work like a team. Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me.” That’s what we need more of.

 

 

Roger

 

01

Jump Star # 1967

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 1967

Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

This early section of Proverbs is a father’s instruction to his son. It’s like a talk a dad would have before his child heads off to college. Reminders of things that the child has heard but one more time being reinforced. What follows is a series of simple reminders that are all connected to “watching over your heart.”

Put away a deceitful mouth (24)
Look directly ahead of you (25)
Watch the path of your feet (26)
Avoid evil (27)

But our verse is the overriding principle in all of this. There are a series of things we gather from this principle.

First, each person is responsible for their heart and for the way that they turn out. The very idea of “watching over your heart” implies that there is something that a person can do to make sure it is safe. Why watch over, if things are beyond your control? What’s the purpose if you can’t change things?

Second, there are things that are heart healthy and things that destroy our hearts. We understand this physically. A regular diet of French fries, although they taste good, isn’t good for our hearts. Likewise, there are things that helps our spiritual hearts and things that clog and hurt our spiritual hearts. Just as a person watches what they eat, we must “watch,” the very word used here, what we put into our spiritual hearts. A steady diet of complaining, negativity, falsehoods, foul attitudes, corrupt language and it won’t be long and we will have a serious heart problem. Simply showing up on Sunday morning church service won’t erase all the bad stuff we have fed our hearts all week. It is no different than a person eating a bad diet and then at one meal, he drinks water. Do you think that one glass of water is going to make up for all the bad stuff you have put in you? Watch. That’s the word. The concept is like a guard. I’ve been to the White House and have seen guards. I’ve been to Buckingham Palace and have seen guards. No one just walks through the gates. That doesn’t happen. ID is checked. Metal detectors must be walked through. Schedules are checked. If you are not on the list and you are not invited and expected, you do not just go in. They are watching. They are guarding. They are protecting. Is it any different with our hearts? Do we allow just anything to pass through the gates? Anything that is blasphemous, obscene, offensive and counter to what we believe? Why would we let those things pass unnoticed and unchecked? Is it because a friend or family member says it? It is because a boss says it? It is because it’s in the latest movie? Watch your heart. Don’t fall asleep at the post.

Third, Out of our hearts is what forms our character. Our attitudes are shaped by what is in our hearts. Our beliefs come from our hearts. So with anything coming in unchecked, is it any wonder that some have real problems with their mouths. They say things that they shouldn’t. They repeat things that others have no business knowing. Those that shine so well in character, have spent years developing and feeding their heart the very things that will make it strong, spiritual and pleasing to the Lord. Those that put little thought into this will have a character that causes trouble and is unsteady. You want to be a strong Christian? It’s possible. But you have to pay attention to what you are feeding your soul. Some spend more time chasing their doubts than they do feeding their faith. Some spend too much time with critics, doubters and wolves in sheep clothing, that they are not sure what they believe. If you don’t take care of your spiritual heart you will not have a positive spiritual life. It’s that simple.

Fourth, the very idea of watching means somethings are accepted and some things are turned away. You will not do what everyone else is doing. You may not even do what other Christians are doing. You know your heart. You know what works. You know where you want to be. So, there are things you are going to steer clear of because they will not help you. There are things that you know are good and beneficial, so you will embrace those. You may not keep up or even watch the TV shows that others are talking about. You may not read the hottest books on the market. You may not have all the apps and do all the things that people declare, “you have’ta do this.” No, you don’t. You watch over your heart.

Fifth, no one else can do this for you. Preachers and shepherds can give you verses and tell you all the benefits of praying, and letting your mind dwell upon holy and right things. We can sit in amazing Bible classes and learn the value of watching over our hearts, but then immediately go home, and watch something on TV that is just the opposite of what we have learned. It fills our minds and hearts with fear, doubts and negative thoughts about others. We reach out to others for help. They pray with us and for us. They suggest things to do and things to read. We are invited to be with some of the best spiritual people on earth. But if we are not watching our hearts, weeds will take it over and all of this will be to no positive benefit. One of the great concerns of elders is that too often they are praying and caring for the soul of a person more than that person cares about it. This father, in our Proverb, was telling his son to “watch” over his heart. Dad couldn’t do it. Preachers can’t do it. Elders can’t do it. There are not enough sermons that will do it. Each of us has to do this ourselves. Satan’s poison looks like appealing glitter to our eyes. We are attracted to it. It seems innocent. Unless we are careful. Unless we are watching, we will consume that poison and then that poison consumes us.

Finally, the word “diligence” is found in our verse. Watch over your heart with all diligence. Be diligent, is found in the N.T. Diligence means top priority. It means, “get to it.” It doesn’t mean, sooner or later, if I find the time, I’ll do it. If you came home this evening, and someone left the water running and it has flowed over the sink and is filling the bathroom with water, you wouldn’t wait until a commercial of the ballgame to turn the water off. It doesn’t matter if it is the final game of the World Series, you’d tend to the mess in the bathroom. That takes top priority. We get that. It’s the same with our hearts. Watch over them with diligence. Become thankful. Become kind. Become a servant. Become spiritual. How? Watching over your heart with diligence. That means, not every thing that pops in my head needs to be said. WATCH. That means I need to turn my eyes away from some things. WATCH. That means I must feed my faith. WATCH. Get to it and get to it now! Diligence.

We determine the hearts that we have. My late friend, Barbara Johnson, often wrote in her books, “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.” You choose. You determine. You watch your heart.

Good thoughts for us to remember.

Roger