12/31/24 GUARD THE GATES

12/31/24 GUARD THE GATES

I have been thinking about the importance of guarding the GATES to our inner man. (Remember the gates in Bunyan's "Holy War.")

I hope to come back to this as we begin 2025, but in the meantime, let me just mention two of these gates today: Ear-Gate and Mouth-Gate.

We need to guard our hearing. Sometimes it is a matter of filtering what we hear. 

We need to guard our speaking.

Suffice it to say, we need to put a guard concerning the things we hear and the things we say. Guard yourself from the thoughts that come through the ear and the thoughts that are expressed through the mouth.

We must speak truth and we must speak it in love. We shouldn't speak something just because we think it. We should not lie, we should not gossip, we should not speak perverse things, we should not utter curses, we should not cause division with our words. There are many things we should keep our mouths from speaking.

On the other hand, there are a great number of things we can and we should do with our speaking. We should encourage, we should inform, we should evangelize, we should comfort, we should build up, we should praise, we should confess, we should worship.

Psalms 19:14
14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

Psalms 141:3-4
3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.