Guarding Our Heart

In the past week one cannot pick up a newspaper, read online news, or even scroll through Facebook without being inundated with “news” about the release of the movie, Fifty Shades of Grey. One advertisement called on women to enter a contest and win a Fifty Shades movie night for ten friends.

Proverbs 4:23 is an excellent yardstick when discerning messages and cultural trends that may influence our thinking and choices. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (KJV). The word used for “keep” literally means to “guard” in the sense of protecting. Our hearts, which comprise our feelings, will, and intellect, are bombarded with many unbiblical messages daily. Unlike previous generations, we have nearly unlimited access to information and images for any given topic. Often what is reported as “news” is nothing more than sensationalized depictions of lewd behavior.

The instruction of Proverbs 4:23 is to guard the heart and to guard it with diligence. A guard watches and protects from anyone and anything that can penetrate the safe zone. Are we diligently guarding the gate to our hearts or do we let our guard down as we surf the waters of the internet? Does curiosity entice us to read the newspaper reviews that outline vivid details? God has given us an amazing capacity in our mind to “make pictures” as we read. If we are guarding our hearts with all diligence, we will refuse to take in what makes pornographic pictures in our mind. Some reading this may recoil at the thought they are engaging in pornography when dabbling with Fifty Shades of Grey. However, consider the definition pornography from Merriam-Webster: the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement. Fifty Shades of Grey in print or in movie version is pornographic and we should have a guard posted at the gate of our hearts to prevent any entrance.

Proverbs 4:23 further instructs us to guard our heart with all diligence because out of our hearts flow the issues of life. What grows in the heart will come forth and influence the course of the life. Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (KJV). Fifty Shades of Grey is nothing new; sins of the flesh are as old as the fall of man. What is new is the bombarding of the senses in order to reach every corner of the culture with the message. Just this week it was reported that a “Fifty Shades of Grey” puzzle was given to Pennsylvania middle school students. This reminds the mothers and grandmothers among us that we must be vigilant to guard the hearts of our children and grandchildren also.

(http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/12/fifty-shades-grey-puzzles-given-to-pa-middle-school-children/)

We live in a sexualized culture that craves and promotes increasing depravity in every form outside the boundaries of the beautiful gift God intended for sexuality. Indeed, one criticism of the movie has been that it wasn’t explicit enough in portraying the story as it was in the print version.  Let us consider the warning of Romans 1:29-32, guarding our hearts and choosing wisely from what this culture offers us as women. “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (ESV)