In Proverbs 4, we are told to “Guard your heart, for it is a wellspring of life.” How do we do this? Many ways, but let me share with you one way I’ve recently jumped into. Living and working here in East Africa, our days have some routine, and a lot of weirdness. Each day seems to be filled with a fair amount of the unexpected, and just living here can be fairly draining. Trying to communicate with people, always off balance from being in a strange culture, all the massive amts of pollution of every kind – by the end of the day we are usually wiped out.

So one way that I would unwind at the end of the day was with a bottle of Jack Daniels… ha, ha, just checking if you’re reading carefully. No, I would not drink, but after the family went to bed, oftentimes I would watch a movie. We brought some videos with us, friends back home have sent us some, and then sometimes we’d just watch ones we could find around here, which are usually very low quality. This became a habit at least a few times each week for me.

In and of itself, probably not a problem. But as I’ve been praying for God to search my heart, it occurred to me that I needed to make sure these movie times were not becoming too important to me. I want the Lord to be my source of refreshment and fun, not what Hollywood feeds me. So I decided to do a “fast” from all TV and movies.

That was a month and a half ago, and it has been an amazing time of coming back to my main priorities. Certainly there are days when Holly and I would like to sit and watch something, but it has been cleansing for me to check my motives and inner workings of my heart, and make sure that the Lord is still at the center. We are here for a purpose, and while there is nothing wrong with enjoying some entertainment occasionally, this must not be what we primarily look forward to, or “gets us through the day.” God says through Paul in 1 Cor.6 that “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything.” As we guard our hearts, and have God search us, it has been a great joy for him to challenge me in areas that may be permissible, but not beneficial, so that I will not be mastered by anything. Balance is so important in the Christian life. We have one Master, and our love for Him is the one thing that is to consume us.  I know I still have a long way to go on the journey God has for me, but guarding my heart for Christ alone is certainly a step in the right direction.

To that end, may we grow deeper in love with our one Master. Pressing on in the journey, Eric