3-Minute Devotions for Teen GuysSample

The Real You Will Show Up

There’s a place inside each of us that responds to good and evil. What it spends the most time with will ultimately expose what we really believe. The Bible calls this place the heart—the real you that spills over when it’s full. The heart forms character. You could spend time with things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (see Philippians 4:8) or hang out with things that lead to immorality, theft, murder, greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly (see Mark 7:22). The heart is as quick to nurture evil as it is good. The Bible says we can never fully understand the ways of the heart. The heart loves emotion. The mind accepts logic. However, they can work together to follow God—or just pretend for a while. Your words and actions are always servants of what the heart really believes.

Prayer: Dear God, may my heart and mind be filled with You. May my choices demonstrate things that are pure, excellent, and worthy of praise. May I resist the influence of things that cause me to consider greed, arrogance, and deceit normal responses. Let me carefully choose what I allow access to my heart. May my responses reflect a character developed by You. Amen.