Keep Your Eyes Straight Ahead

Proverbs 4:25 (MSG)

Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions.

Alright, so yesterday I trimmed off the dead stuff from my tulip plant in an effort to  keep it from pouring out good energy into trying to regrow ugly and useless parts.  As I trimmed those dried and cracking pieces off, I noticed that the entire plant began to look a little healthier.....but is it?

This plant is so like my heart.  I read in my Bible this morning from Mark 7:20-23 (MSG)  Jesus said, "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes:  obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness--all these are vomit from the heart.  There is the source of your pollution." 

 Ouch again!  The last thing that I ever want to do is "look" like a good Christ follower on the outside...but not be a true Christ follower with my heart.  In the response to a question from the Parisees and religion scholars to Jesus about this very thing, the Lord sums up what we are doing when we behave in this manner...

Mark 7:5-8 (MSG)

The Pharisees and religion scholars asked,  "Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?"  Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull's-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it.  They act like they are worshiping me, but they don't mean it.  They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, ditching God's command and taking up the latest fads."

Praying today for a gaze that is "straight ahead" on the Lord and His plans for my life.  Asking Him to adjust my path wherever He needs to, so that the focus of my family and our home would be squarely on Him!  Also, thanking the God who created each one of us, for His overwhelming attention and love as He guides and moves us.