Week 2 Day 5: We Are What We Think

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT

"There is a part of the sea known as 'the cushion of the sea.' It lies beneath the surface that is agitated by storms and churned by the wind. It is so deep that it is a part of the sea that is never stirred….The peace of God is an eternal calm like the cushion of the sea. It lies so deeply within the human heart that no external difficulty or disturbance can reach it. And anyone who enters the presence of God becomes a partaker of that undisturbed and undisturbable calm.” —Arthur Tappan Pierson

With all the chatter that goes on in our heads, how do we find this kind of indescribable, unshakable peace within our hearts? Proverbs 4:23 says by guarding our hearts, but let’s be clear about what the Bible means by the word “heart.”

To the Hebrew people, the heart is not just about emotions but it also includes a person’s entire essence, their mind, will, motivations and thoughts. The heart is at the center of their being, every aspect of their character.

The thoughts that dwell in our heads ultimately drive our minds, emotions and actions. If we allow unhealthy thoughts to stay lurking in our minds we can’t find rest. These thoughts will consume our present and eat away at our future. So in order to guard our hearts, we must begin with our thoughts because they are truly the center of our being.

Guarding our hearts doesn’t mean self-protection. Self-protection will keep our hearts from pain, but it will also inadvertently keep our hearts from love. We must have a filter that doesn’t throw out the good with the bad. We have to welcome everything and then we carefully CHOOSE what to keep in our hearts. We allow the good and the bad, but we train our thoughts to reject the bad and meditate on the good.

We can’t just think about any old thing that “falls” into our head. We must make the effort to think about what we are thinking about. We must identify negative thoughts by intentionally “listening” for them. We can’t act on what we don’t know or don’t recognize as harmful. Once we realize a thought is unhealthy we can choose to change it or reject it all together.

So how do we change our thoughts? We reach for our Filter, the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t just come to save us from Hell, He came to give us abundant life. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out, by helping us to choose our thoughts wisely.

Do your thoughts get out of control? How do you think trusting God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit can help keep your thoughts from running rampant?

Meditate on Proverbs 4:23 today