As we are in week 2 of our Read Proverbs 8 times in 8 weeks Challenge. Here’s a little package of five proverbs that were put together by Solomon that I came across and a story that may help us grow wiser…
Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
Avoid all perverse talk; stay far from corrupt speech.
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.
Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Proverbs 17:24 NLT
As I read this package my ears perked up when I saw the stuff about ‘fix your eyes.’ Our theme for this year is all about our eyes and what we put them on. As I was meditating on this proverb I realized that it was part of a bigger context…it related to guarding the heart.
Last week, I was a a gathering with the folks who are putting together the DRIVEN conference this year (check details below or here ). One of our friends there was in Cambodia for a couple of weeks at the turn of the year. He was telling us stories about the trip, the advantages of a Land Rover over a Hummer, the motobikes, and on and on. Great stories.
I was compelled by the one thing he kept saying over and over. Never go off the path. He explained by saying that in the war that ravaged the country there were thousands and thousands of land mines that were buried. Many of them have never been detonated. People today still are maimed or killed by them as they accidentally set them off.
So DON’T go off the path has a lot of impact there. Their experience is a huge teacher. They get it…damage or death may lie just a few feet from the edge of the path. So wisdom for a Cambodian is definitely….
Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe.
Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
The same is true spiritually. There is damage and death that lies just off the path of following Jesus. It may or may not show itself like a removed limb or a funeral, but it’s reality is all the same.
Let’s be wise…let’s guard our hearts and our lives…let’s keep our eyes on Jesus.