Stay afloat

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)

I recently saw an analogy I think fits nicely with this passage in Proverbs 4: “ships don’t sink because of the water around them, ships sink because of the water that gets in them.” Plainly stated, don’t let the things going on around you get inside you and bring you down.

Sometimes as Christians it can feel like the cultures and ideologies of the world, now more than ever, are infiltrating our everyday lives. Our schools, our workplaces, our spaces online. It becomes easy to lament about how hard we have it as Christians these days. But look at the time and culture our saviour, Jesus, was born into. A time of political unrest for his people. A time when the Pharisees, the earthly custodians of the faith, seemed to work counter to God’s vision.

Jesus encountered obstacles every step of his journey. Where any other human would have drowned, Jesus walked on water. Physically and metaphorically. Likewise, we should seek to guard our hearts.

Don’t take on water.

Stay afloat.