How’s Your Heart?

For the next few weeks at Round Rock, we’re exploring how to guard our hearts from envy, lust, greed, pride, and anger. (It’s not as much of a downer as it sounds like, I promise!)

On Sunday, I shared some questions we can ask in order to get a handle on monitoring what’s going into and coming out of our hearts. Several people have asked for those questions, so here they are. Take 15 minutes or so and answer each of these with a sentence or two.

After all, the wisest man in the world said, “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”

WHAT’S GOING IN?

• What are the TV shows I watch pouring into my heart?
• How might the music I listen to subtly be shaping the way I think and feel?
• What are the voices am I giving access to my heart on a regular basis? (Friends, talk show hosts, authors, columnists, business gurus, mentors, preachers, etc.)
• How often am I reading the Bible?
• How much Scripture am I internalizing by committing it to memory?

 
WHAT’S COMING OUT?

• What do I say when my filter gets thin, and what tone of voice do I use?
• What thoughts enter my mind when I encounter someone who’s… Beautiful? …Annoying? …Poor? …Rich? …Dressed immodestly? …A different color than I am?
• If someone tried to decipher my priorities, based solely on my credit/debit card statements, what would they decide?
• When someone succeeds where I’ve failed, what do I say under my breath?
• When someone fails where I’ve succeeded, what’s my first thought?
• What makes me laugh?
• What makes me cry?