My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:20-27
It’s really easy to change externals of life. You can move the furniture around, switch activities, make new friends, get a new job. Some people pick up and move every few years to see if a new location fixes their problems and it rarely if ever does. Wherever you go, there you are. Solomon provides a lot of wisdom about decisions, where we go, whom we hang out with, and so on, but he focuses on the heart: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” It your heart isn’t right with God it won’t really matter what else you do. And if it is right, you’ll be motivated to apply wisdom to every situation. That brings up the big question. How do you keep your heart? By daily confessing sin, reading Scripture, thanking God for His good gifts in Christ and worshipping Him on the Lord’s Day. Do that diligently and all your ways will be established. Christ said the same: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.”