Fighting the Fires of Dangerous Thoughts.Sample

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.” Vigilance is the action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.

Are you being vigilant in how your heart (your mind) is flowing? Are your thoughts being watched carefully for possible danger or difficulties? Things like fear, anger, discontent, jealousy, insecurity, or comparison can bring difficulty and danger.

We have a pond on our property. It gets its water flow from the pond that’s next to it, which gets its water from a little creek flowing into it. Last year, our pond was all the sudden really cloudy and full of muck. I bought pond cleaner; I got in my little john boat and went around the whole pond's edge pouring the cleaner in. But nothing worked. The cleaner didn’t make any difference. We then realized that our neighbor upstream a bit had been clearing some land, and all kinds of dirt and bacteria were landing in the creek. And that muck made its way down the creek to my pond and muddied the waters terribly.

We have to be vigilant in keeping our source clean, so to speak (our thoughts), from the muck because all the things that are flowing from that spill out into our actions (our life). It spills out into how you process things, how you treat others, how you forgive, how you serve others, how you spend your time, how you parent, how you love, how you do life.

Yes, this takes intentionality, consistency, and persistence–all things that make the commitment extremely hard. But living in a wildfire mentality is also extremely hard. Choose your hard. One way will bring peace and the other strife.

What if we used God’s Word with vigilance to replace our dangerous thoughts with life-giving things flowing downstream instead?