Keeping Your Wellspring Clean

Keeping Your Wellspring Clean

Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:20-23

Living in Florida makes a person very aware of water. Lakes, rivers, the ocean. Droughts, hurricanes, and thunderstorms. One of the things impressed upon residents is that we’ve got to be careful about our water supply—how we use and conserve it and how we care for it. We always need to be vigilant against overuse. And although homeowners are permitted to use chemicals to treat lawns, any chemicals used too close to wells or the Floridan aquifer—the main supply of our drinking water that sits beneath all of Florida, as well as parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi—can taint that supply, creating serious danger for everyone.

It’s not unlike the flow of negative influences into your heart. People today don’t guard their hearts carefully. The analogy in today’s verses is like a sentry standing at his post to guard your heart from evil influences, invasion by ungodly thoughts, and for your children, things that could rob them of their innocence.

No matter how old we are—young, middle-aged, or older—I believe we give our hearts away too quickly. We open our hearts too readily and easily to inappropriate influences—things like television shows where characters use inappropriate language or behave suggestively, especially in front of our children and youth. Perhaps it’s simply inappropriate associations with others who strip the innocence from us or penetrate our lives, minds, and hearts with ungodly thoughts, words, and deeds and in the process begin to create in us a heart no longer aligned with God. All these things contaminate the “wellspring” of our lives—our hearts.

Think about your emotions that have been damaged—or could be in the future—by allowing the wrong person into your heart. Children and young people are especially vulnerable in this area and need to rely on godly parents to advise them, and to protect their hearts and their innocence. They need direction in the choices they make.

It’s time for you to check the doors of your heart. What safeguards do you have in place? Do you need to increase your protection?

Uncommon Key > Guard your heart and the hearts of the children in your life. Keep a sentry at the door. Your heart is the “wellspring” of your life, the place where God dwells and from which He works through you. Keep it pure and godly.