What to Watch

Intro

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Family

Compass

We live in an amazing time where we have access to stream anything we want at almost any time...

You know, if your boss or teacher doesn’t catch you

This myriad of choices can lead us to a thing called decision paralysis

So many choices you can’t think of which to choose

It’s like when you sit down to have a family movie night without a plan and most of the evening is taken up by trying to decide what to watch

Or if you’re like my family you get to that point where you have to decide if tonight was actually just recon for an actual movie night at a later date!

It’s not just in entertainment that we have those moments of paralysis when faced with choices

Restaurants, activities to give your time to, charities to give your money too, places in the church to serve...

As I was praying about what to bring to the church today, God showed me that we have this same issue as we are walking out this Christian life

There begins to be so many things that we feel like we should pay attention to, that we end up not doing any… or much … of it

I need to watch my devotional life

I need to watch my kindness

Gotta watch my language

Need to watch my generosity

Need to watch my schedule and time management

Need to watch my involvement in small groups

The list goes on

We find ourselves in this what to watch stage of development where we watch the trailers for each of these areas and we think… yeah thats the one. Then theres another thing that comes up and our attention strays

So what happens is that we feel this sense of lack

A sense that says, I’m not able to get better at any of this because I don’t have the time or the guidance or whatever

We start to feel like Martha trying to get the house together and serve the guests and cook the food and we feel like we’re just spinning plates

What if I told you that what you need to watch is simpler and yet more profound than all that

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

The thing that we are called to watch is our heart.

I know the phrase Guard Your Heart has become a sort of Christianese thing to say

you know what I mean? Things you say if you go to church but has kinda lost meaning

Even though that phrase is a little corny now, the meaning is actually super important

Stick with me while we nerd out for just a second

The idea of heart as represented in scripture is not the seat of emotions… Its not the feeling part of you

It is the essence of your decision making, desires, personality, inclination, disposition, determination, courage, will, intention, attention, reason, consideration

So when the God speaks that we are suppose to watch or keep our heart with all vigilance

He’s saying that we are to guard and protect what it is that is the central point of who we are

So when David says in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Or Ezekiel36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 27:19 “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.”

The Lord has shown us and continues to tell us that the thing we need to watch is our heart

we need to be aware that our choices are shaping us

Everything around us that you choose to give your attention to is either forming or deforming you.

CS Lewis has a quote in one of his books Titled Mere Christianity… and i’m going to paraphrase it

Every decision you make is turning that central part of you that part that makes decisions into either a more hellish or more heavenly thing. And given the millions of choices you make over the span of your life you are consistently turning into someone who reflects Heaven or Hell

Jesus said it this way in Mark 7:14-22 “And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”

And it’s not coincidence that I began by talking about entertainment, because one of the ways that we are forming or shaping our life is through how we spend our time.