Ezekiel 13:5
"You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD."
I've been reading through this part of the Bible recently and this verse has been ringing in my ears ever since I first read it.
These words are from God to the leaders of Israel. For reasons of selfishness & sin, the leadership of Israel has severely neglected the outer-wall defenses of the city and has left the people dangerously exposed to outside attack.
Now, realizing that it's not likely that anyone reading this is in charge of an entire city's safety due to a giant stone wall that you're responsible for, I think the message to take away here is either...
1. You need to stop being lazy and go fix that front door of your house that doesn't open and close correctly.
OR
2. We all need to pay better attention to what gets in & out of our hearts and the defenses that guard it.Your heart, according to God, is the spring that produces the experience of life you're living in right now.
Proverbs 4:23
"Above all else, guard your heart,for it is the wellspring of life."
- your job
- a struggling marriage
- a broken friendship
- financial stress
- temptation
There's always something or someone else to blame for the conditions of our life.
But HOW you experience any situation is up to you. How you experience life is a partial result of what's coming out of your heart, and what comes out from your heart is a product of what gets into your heart. And the door to the heart is the way we think, this is why scripture tells us in Proverbs that as we think so we are.
Maybe that's why Paul tells us so clearly in Philippines 4:8 to be so selective with what thoughts we allow to consume our thinking.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
For some of us, the guard around our heart; the healthy protection and awareness of what gets in and what gets out is being severely neglected.
It's no wonder that at times we so quickly go emotionally towards anger, doubt, insecurity, fear, hate, blame, and all sorts of other places that will suck life from us & from the people around us.The gate to our heart, which is our mind, either has a wide open door or breaks in the wall.
I think this is why Paul once talked about transformation being in the mind.
Romans 12:2
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."
This transformation isn't a one time act, it's an ongoing decision of guarding what gets in and what goes out. We have to make the regular decision to approve or deny what walks through the door of our thinking. Paul explained this best when he tells us that his way of doing this was to make all of his thoughts obedient to Jesus.
2 Corinthians 10:5
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we takecaptive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
I think there are several ways we could apply the challenge to "repair the breaks in the wall". The way I'm being challenged by God is to repair the wall of my thoughts & thinking. There are some holes in that wall; thoughts & ways of thinking that are finding their way down into my heart. Once in my heart they shape the way I'm experiencing life, God & the people around me that is not producing the LIFE I want to be experiencing. In other words, there's tainted water coming from my well.
With God's help, I'm repairing some of those breaks.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
