Porches, Windows and Wisdom
Written by Cheryl Boyce for Impact Church, Toronto
Note To Parents:
Welcome Back to Impact Church Toronto’s Week 10 in the Fighting Words Series. We are a welcoming church located in the Yonge and Eglinton area that wants to support our community both on and offline.
This week we’re talking about the importance of guarding our hearts and how what we allow ourselves to consume affects our lives and the people around us. We pray that this opens up some meaningful conversations in your family and gives some ideas about what boundaries to put in place when it comes to how we consume information and compels you to seek out influences that will help you grow in your relationship with God.
If you have any prayer requests, questions or testimonies, please email us today at contact@impactto.ca or DM us on Instagram at @impactchurchto
We’re praying for you!
Have a great week!
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DEVOTIONAL
There once was a Sunday School teacher of teeny, tiny Sunday school class out in the countryside. One Sunday, when the students met her at church for class, she walked her students over to her home just down the road to sit inside her enclosed porch. The kids were excited about the change of scenery. It was a warm summer morning, and a gentle breeze was blowing through the windows. After everyone found their place and settled in, the teacher-directed the children’s attention to the windows’ screens. She noted how lovely it was to sit on her porch during the summer months but that it wouldn’t be possible without using the screens. If she didn’t have screens on her windows, when she opened them to let the breeze in, the bugs would come with it making it impossible to sit there. She would end up being harassed by the bugs and ultimately be covered in bug bites.
She explained that on windy, rainy days or snowy days, it would be impossible to sit there unless she kept the windows completely closed; otherwise, the wind, the rain and the snow would blow in and ruin the porch.
The children began to wonder why on earth she'd brought them to her porch to teach them about windows.
“This porch,” she continued, is a lot like your heart. It’s a beautiful place to be, but you have to guard it. It’s important to be open to ideas, thoughts and feelings, but you must always have your “screen” on. The screen is God’s word and the Holy Spirit. Everything we allow into our hearts needs to be filtered through his word, just like I use these screens to keep the bugs out.
Then there are times when you must shut the windows. It’s ok to keep the curtains open and observe what’s happening in life, but you don’t need to allow some things, like bitterness, envy, jealousy, hatred or any things that breed those kinds of feelings or idea access to your heart. If you do allow these things into your heart, it will end up full of all sorts of things that will make your life more painful and difficult.
What a poignant lesson!
In this week’s fighting words, we aren’t instructed to close our hearts or be hard-hearted. What we are being advised to do is to pay attention to what we allow. God wants us to use wisdom to filter out the things that will affect our spirit. If we don’t, our inner world can become a very uncomfortable place to be.
Matthew 12:34 advises us that the words we speak come from what’s in our hearts. The condition of our hearts will ultimately spill out into our world through our words.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us that our words actually have the power to bring life or death.
The tongue can bring death or life;
those who love to talk will
reap the consequences.
Have you ever had someone say something cruel and felt the pain of their words deep in your heart? Know this; harsh words come from an unguarded heart. When we unguard our hearts, eventually, things that have been allowed to live there, like anger and bitterness, will spill out through our words, affecting the world around us. Guarding our hearts is not just an important thing to do to protect ourselves; it’s important to protect those we influence.
If you are feeling like you haven’t been guarding your heart, that’s ok. Healing and the restoration of our hearts is always only a prayer away.
The Psalmist prayed this simple prayer:
“Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right and steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
None of us are perfect. Things will get past our “screens.” In those times, the Holy Spirit is always more than willing and able to help clean up your heart and guide you in cleaning up any messes your heart may have caused.
Question 1: Do you make it a habit to guard your heart?
Question 2: What are some ways that you are going to guard your heart?
Question 3: Are there any circumstances where you think you need to put screens on your heart’s windows or shut the window all together? Discuss.
Challenge: This week, try your very best to pay attention to what you’re paying attention to. Ask the Holy Spirit what media, conversations, or other information you’re taking in that you may need to filter or close the window on. Ask the Lord to show you how to be open-minded and wise. Commit to yourself and to God that you will prioritize guarding your heart.
PRAYER
(Here’s a prayer to pray together or on your own as you memorize your “Fighting Words” this week.)
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for your word. Thank you for teaching us how to live a content and purposeful life. God, We’re sorry for all the ways we’ve exposed our hearts to things that aren’t good for us. Things that hurt us and hurt others around us.
Father, help us to live a life of kindness and holiness. We pray that our lives and words would put your love on display to everyone we influence. We pray that you would renew our hearts. Thank you for your love, Father.
We love you!
In Jesus’ name, we pray,
Amen!