23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
1.Someone has said that a “proverb” is a saying, a short sentence based on a great experience- and that’s true if one is speaking of an earthly proverb,- but that isn’t what these Proverbs are…
These Proverbs, the words that we’ve just finished reading is God’s Word given to man so that man can know God’s will for his life!
2. In verse 23 we read a very singular phrase….Solomon says, “Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”
Let me share some insight on this word that Solomon uses- the word I want to focus on is the word “heart”.
3. In the Old Testament, the word “heart” is used 800 times- and of these 800 instances that the word is used, the word “heart” practically never refers to the ORGAN, it refers to the MIND- the mind of every MAN and the MIND of every WOMAN.
And what Solomon is saying here is that the HEART is the MIND of a man. In other words, we are what we think.
4. So when we talk of the heart, we are really talking about our thoughts.
And Solomon tells his son, “My son, guard your mind with diligence, because from your mind springs, from your mind flows all the things of life!”
“Son, guard your mind, son protect your mind because from your mind flow all the issues of life.”
5. Today I want to share what we have titled, “The Stewardship of Our Minds”. And we’ll be seeing this subject under three very simple principles:
1. The MAJESTY of the MIND
2. THE MASTERY of the MIND – and finally,
3. THE MINISTRY of the MIND
1. The MAJESTY of the MIND
1. This word “majesty” occurred to me. But why the word “majesty”?
Very simply because there is no machine,
-there is no computer;
-there is nothing on this earth that can compare with what God has done in the mind of humankind. The mind truly is “majestic”.
And why is it majestic? The mind is majestic because the mind controls absolutely everything!
2. The mind of a man, the mind of a women reins supreme.
Solomon tells his son, “Guard your mind, because from it flows all the issues of life!”
What this man is saying, the wisest man to ever live is: “Son, you have to understand that your thoughts will control your life.”
“And if you never learn to control your thoughts, you will never be able to control your life.”
“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs Chapter 23, verse 7)
3. Our thoughts are going to control the attitudes we display in our lives and our attitudes take us to certain actions in our life…
- we act in love when our thoughts give us love.
- We act in hate when our thoughts give us hate.
- We act in kindness when our thoughts give us kindness.
And all these things come from one place- the mind, the heart of every man and the heart of every woman.
4. We could say that our thoughts are the father of our actions- whether good or bad.
5. Someone very wisely has said,
- Plant a thought, reap an action.
- Plant an action, reap a habit.
- Plant a habit, reap a character,
- Plant a character, reap a destiny.
All these things are related to one thing- our thoughts. What we do with our minds.
And God’s Word clearly says, “From the heart comes forth the attitudes of life!”
Make no mistake; the mind is very, very powerful.
6. Do you know where God starts making changes in our lives? In our minds.
And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul says in
Romans 12:2
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
7. Listen, when God changes us, He transforms us, and the first thing He changes, the first thing He transforms is our MIND!!
The Lord gives us NEW thoughts. Why? Because we are the total sum of the things we have in our minds!
- When we change our thoughts, we change our attitudes.
- And when we change our attitudes, we change our actions.
- And when we change our actions, we change the goals in our lives.
This is exactly why Solomon tells his son, “Keep your heart, protect your heart with all diligence!” “Because from that heart, from that mind spring all the issues of your life!”
8. The mind governs, the mind reins, the mind controls, all the areas of our lives.
That is the MAJESTY of the Mind.
(But now I want you to see a second aspect of the mind…)
2. The MASTERY of the MIND.
If the mind is so majestic- the question should be, how can I have mastery over it?
In other words- how can I learn to control it? *And I should learn to control it, because if I don’t control my mind, my mind will control me!
1) WE NEED TO THINK PURE THOUGHTS.
1. We can summarize this is the following way- If I want a pure action I first need a pure thought.
2. Friends, it’s time we take off the mask that many of us wear and start being honest with the Lord before it’s too late!
And the first step towards this honesty is asking ourselves a very important question…and the question is this. What are the things we permit into our minds?
What are the things that consume our thoughts??
This is extremely serious- more serious than many of us would like to believe.
With this in mind, I want you to listen to what Solomon says in
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?
- What are the things we look at?
- What are the things we listen to?
- What are the things we are read?
Satan is going to do all he can to fill our minds with garbage—Why? Because Satan knows,
- That if he can change our thoughts, he can change our attitudes,
- and if he changes our attitudes, he can change our actions,
- and if he can change our actions, he can change our goals,
- and if Satan can change our goals, he’ll get what he has always wanted- the destruction of our marriages, the destruction of our families and the destruction of our churches.
3. “How can I protect my mind from thinking what I shouldn’t? That is what is so wonderful about the mind that the Lord gave us.
*It is impossible to think evil when we think on the good!
God has designed the mind in such a way that it cannot truly think on two things at once.
4. If God’s Word is in our heart and we saturate our minds with the thoughts of this perfect Book, evil will flee from us!
*We should wake up and go to sleep with God’s Word in our hands!
5. Some of you might say, “How boring is that!”
If that’s your attitude you are in great need of the salvation of your soul!
When a man, when a women truly has an encounter with the King of kings and Lord of Lords- His Word will not bore you…
- His Word will fill you will joy,
- His Word with fill you with peace,
- and His Word with will hope!
A JOY, a HOPE and a PEACE and a HOPE that no one can take from you!
That is the MASTERY of the MIND
Review
We have seen the 1) The Majesty the Mind.
We have seen the 2) The Mastery of the Mind.
And point number three, and I will conclude with this…
3. The MINISTRY of the MIND
1. What is the first thing that will happen in my life when I allow God’s Word to be the Master of my Mind? My person will function in a very specific way.
And the first function that the Lord will perform in my life is that He will govern what I SPEAK.
v. 24
Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
When I fill my mind with God’s Word, there is no room for perverse lips or a deceitful mouth!
In other words, if all that flows out of my mouth are dirty or racial “jokes”,
If all that flows from my mouth is gossip and slander,
If all that flows from my mouth are words that HURT, words that divide, I have a problem with my heart, which in reality is a problem in my mind.
Where you aware that our mouths always shine a light on our thoughts?
- If there is LOVE in our mind, do you know what will come out of our mouths? LOVE.
- If there is HATE in our mind, do you know what will come out of our mouths? HATE.
- If there is JEALOUSY in our mind, do you know what will come out of our mouths? JEALOUSY.
2. Folks, this isn’t very hard to figure out. It’s very simple. If you want to know what’s in the heart, what’s in the mind of someone, anyone, the only thing you need to do is observe how they SPEAK.
People might fool you for a time, but eventually what they have in their mind will come out of their mouth.
The first ministry of a mind that is in the hands of God’s Word is the ministry of our mouth. But there is a second one.
The ministry of our eyes…
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
1. What determines what we look at? Just one thing- our MIND.
2. We need to make a pact with our eyes. “Lord I want to see things that only please you.”
“25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.”
Conclusion
Are we being good stewards of our minds? Solomon thought it would be a good idea…
“23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”
