Pay Attention, Think, Speak, Become
What we give attention to, we think on.
What we think on, we speak.
And what we speak, we become.
Proverbs 4:20-22 give us very explicit instructions to live our lives successfully. We are given several specific pointers from the Lord. Pay attention to My Word. Put it in your ears. Do not let it depart from your eyes. Keep it in the center of your heart.
Look at these instructions.
We are to pay attention to God’s Word. What does paying attention to something mean? It means that we focus on that thing. We give time to that thing. It becomes the focal point of our life. When we were children, sometimes our parents would look at us and say: Pay attention to me. They were making that statement to us because they were saying something to us that we needed to heed and do. When we pay attention to what God is saying to us, heeding His wisdom and doing what He says, we stay in a place of tranquility, free from many of the consequences that others endure. There are many things that happen in people’s lives that could have been prevented if they had known what to do and how to handle a particular situation in which they found themselves. Or maybe they could have avoided the situation altogether.
We are to hear God’s Word. Listening and hearing are in two different arenas. I can listen to you and have my mind on something else, but when I am hearing what you say, I am focused on your words. I comprehend, I understand what you are saying because I am concentrating on what you are saying. What you are saying is becoming a part of my thinking process. I am “taking it in.” When I hear God’s Word, it is becoming a part of me.
We are to keep God’s Word before our eyes. When I look at the Word in my Bible, it is registering an image on my mind. I am seeing what I am reading. When I stop and consider what I am seeing in a scripture, I am envisioning with my spiritual eyes what I am seeing with my physical eyes, and that Word is becoming a part of me. As we read the Word of God, we need to pause, consider what we are reading, think of how to apply it in our lives and see ourselves doing it.
We are to keep God’s Word in the center or midst of our heart. How do we keep God’s Word in the center of our heart? We do that by meditating on it as we go about our day. We think on it all the time. We consider ourselves doing God’s Word. We see ourselves in the middle of God’s Word. We see God’s Word happening in our lives. We dream and think about God’s Word being our very lifestyle. He and His Word are our priority all the time.
Then we see in verse 22 what the results are of keeping God’s Word before our eyes, in our ears, and in the center of our heart. The results of paying attention to God’s Word are these: His Word is life to us; it produces His very life (zoe) in us. His Word is health or medicine to all our flesh.
Pay attention. Look. Hear. Focus. Keep. These are our words of instruction from Proverbs 4:20-22. If we are obedient to these instructions, God’s life will be produced in us and health comes to our flesh. What a promise from our Lord. It can become reality, fact in our lives.
What we think on, we speak.
And what we speak, we become.
Proverbs 4:20-22 give us very explicit instructions to live our lives successfully. We are given several specific pointers from the Lord. Pay attention to My Word. Put it in your ears. Do not let it depart from your eyes. Keep it in the center of your heart.
Look at these instructions.
We are to pay attention to God’s Word. What does paying attention to something mean? It means that we focus on that thing. We give time to that thing. It becomes the focal point of our life. When we were children, sometimes our parents would look at us and say: Pay attention to me. They were making that statement to us because they were saying something to us that we needed to heed and do. When we pay attention to what God is saying to us, heeding His wisdom and doing what He says, we stay in a place of tranquility, free from many of the consequences that others endure. There are many things that happen in people’s lives that could have been prevented if they had known what to do and how to handle a particular situation in which they found themselves. Or maybe they could have avoided the situation altogether.
We are to hear God’s Word. Listening and hearing are in two different arenas. I can listen to you and have my mind on something else, but when I am hearing what you say, I am focused on your words. I comprehend, I understand what you are saying because I am concentrating on what you are saying. What you are saying is becoming a part of my thinking process. I am “taking it in.” When I hear God’s Word, it is becoming a part of me.
We are to keep God’s Word before our eyes. When I look at the Word in my Bible, it is registering an image on my mind. I am seeing what I am reading. When I stop and consider what I am seeing in a scripture, I am envisioning with my spiritual eyes what I am seeing with my physical eyes, and that Word is becoming a part of me. As we read the Word of God, we need to pause, consider what we are reading, think of how to apply it in our lives and see ourselves doing it.
We are to keep God’s Word in the center or midst of our heart. How do we keep God’s Word in the center of our heart? We do that by meditating on it as we go about our day. We think on it all the time. We consider ourselves doing God’s Word. We see ourselves in the middle of God’s Word. We see God’s Word happening in our lives. We dream and think about God’s Word being our very lifestyle. He and His Word are our priority all the time.
Then we see in verse 22 what the results are of keeping God’s Word before our eyes, in our ears, and in the center of our heart. The results of paying attention to God’s Word are these: His Word is life to us; it produces His very life (zoe) in us. His Word is health or medicine to all our flesh.
Pay attention. Look. Hear. Focus. Keep. These are our words of instruction from Proverbs 4:20-22. If we are obedient to these instructions, God’s life will be produced in us and health comes to our flesh. What a promise from our Lord. It can become reality, fact in our lives.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 9:19 AM
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