In and Out

When I was pastor of the St. John Church, one of our members was a charismatic kind of guy who worked as a morning radio host of a station which was known as the country and western station.  He was one of those guys who filled up the room when he entered.  Since he was a member of the church, I started listening to his morning show whenever I was traveling to the hospital.  I got to a place where I knew all the beer drinking, my woman did me wrong songs, well enough to sing along with musician doing the singing.  I not only knew them, I sang them all throughout the day.  

One day it came to me that all I was singing were these songs about drinking and broken hearts.  There were no longer songs of praise or hymns coming from my heart.  The songs I once sang about Jesus never came from my mouth.  With this realization came the realization that what we put in has something to do with what comes out.  It was about this time that I made the conscious decision to turn the radio dial to the local Christian station.  Let no one think that what we allow into our subconscious, or into our hearts does not matter.  

An old proverb reads, "Guard your heart, for from it flows the springs of life." (Proverbs 4:23).  Another important word from the Scripture we find in one of Paul's letters." "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing , whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8).  What we hear or read or allow to enter into our thoughts will have a bearing on the way we live.  What comes out has something to do with what we allow to go in.