“Protect your heart” (10 mins.)
The term “heart” refers to what we are inside.
In Proverbs 4:23, the term “heart” is used to refer to “the inner” or “the secret self.”
LET'S READ PSALM 51:6
You love to find truth in a person's heart; teach true wisdom to the depths of my being.
In other words, the heart represents our thoughts, feelings, motives and desires. It is not what we appear to be on the outside, but what we really are on the inside. So, in this part of the Bible, Proverbs 4:23 is effectively referring, in terms of the heart, to the person we are on the inside.
Now, in order for us to protect the heart, we must be able to identify dangers and react immediately. According to the words of Proverbs 4:23, let us remember, for example, the watchmen of the time of King Solomon. They stood guard on the city walls, and if they saw danger approaching, they raised the alarm.
This image helps us understand what we must do to prevent Satan from corrupting our minds. Look, you can see precisely in the image how the sentry at the top, when he saw danger, shouted at the people below and they in turn closed the walls. So, effectively, this is the same in relation to our ability to identify dangers and react immediately.
The question is whether we have that capacity. For example, in ancient times, sentinels collaborated with city gatekeepers. Together they protected the city, making sure the gates were closed when an enemy approached. Therefore, our Bible-educated conscience can act as a sentinel, sounding the alarm when Satan attempts to attack our hearts. That is, when he tries to influence our thoughts, feelings, motives or desires, whenever conscience warns us, we have to pay attention and, so to speak, close the door to Satan.
This can only be achieved if the person truly has a mind educated by the Bible. As long as this is not the case, it will be difficult for the person to identify a danger because, to begin with, it may be a danger, but the person does not see it. Since you don't see it, well, you obviously fall into it, so it's important to identify it. Unfortunately, many people identify it when they already have the problem, and sometimes they even learn about the situation with pain. We hope this does not happen, that is why reading the Bible, understanding and wisdom about this will help us, of course, avoid many difficulties and many problems.
Protecting the heart must be a priority for us.
LET'S READ PROVERBS 4:23
More than anything else, protect your heart, because from it spring the fountains of life.
The Bible calls conscience the ability that God gives us to examine what we think, feel and do, and judge ourselves. For example, the Bible-educated conscience is one that relies on Jehovah's standards in his word to determine whether what we think, do, or say is right or wrong. And that is effectively what we were saying a moment ago: that the conscience is educated with the norms that are in the Bible. But, well, if a person has not read them, that is why they fall into the traps of the great bird hunter, the bird catcher, who is setting a trap. But when people already know, or animals already know what these traps are like, they no longer fall into them. The same thing happens with people. When people identify Jehovah's wisdom, they could hardly want something that is wrong.
Our life depends on how our heart is, that is, on the kind of person we are inside.
Why should we protect the heart? You see, God directed King Solomon to write the following:
LET'S READ PROVERBS 4:23
“More than anything else, protect your heart, because from it spring the fountains of life.”
So the quality of our life now and our hope for the future depend on our symbolic heart. After all, God sees what is in him. Therefore, the kind of person we are inside or the secret person of the heart determines what God thinks of us, and indeed it is so.
Here we have an image of a brother who is struggling with the aspects that could be in an electronic device and that undesirable things could come out. Now, the first point is that undesirable things do not only appear in electronic devices; They are everywhere.
In fact, the first issue in sight is our eyes, but let's suppose that we have our eyes well and now there are distracting elements that can make us fall. For example, if you go to a newsstand and there are images that affect us, of course, we would say to be careful when passing by these places. Perhaps there is news that has nothing wrong with it, and that news catches our attention, but if that is going to lead us to images that are in other types of publications, then that would no longer be appropriate.
The same thing happens with electronic devices: they can show us images that are not our own and we may not have the ability to distinguish if that is wrong. Because by not reading the Bible, we can say “Well, if everyone sees them or they came to me, I didn't look for them.” That is why it is important that we have our minds, our thoughts and our hearts in such a way that pleases Jehovah.
Yes, we know that there are certain devices, for example, a telephone call, there is nothing wrong with it; Using a phone has nothing to do with images, but when we are already in places on the Internet where images suddenly appear, one has to be careful in the places where one is browsing the Internet or have, perhaps, a good blocker that can help prevent those images from appearing.
So, it is important that you guard and determine your heart appropriately, with the self-rejection that is shown in the image of the brother who is rejecting that image. If you notice, you didn't leave your cell phone, because there are places where, in fact, the cell phone has nothing to do with those images, but if you are on a website and, suddenly, that happens, then be careful and protect your heart.
Therefore, if we protect our hearts according to what Jehovah tells us, we will be right before Him.
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