Where is Your Heart Planted?

Article Written by Pastor Phil Bray

“Oh, it doesn’t affect me.” Have you ever justified the movie, show, or music you are indulging in with these words? Perhaps the show has an M rating for mature audiences, but it’s just for language or violence. That doesn’t really affect me. I can tune that stuff out. Or perhaps you make the argument that the sex scenes are not explicit and you can skip those parts with a click of the remote. Maybe it’s just music. I just love the beat; I don’t really pay attention to the words. Is this true? Is our soul really untouched by the wickedness portrayed before our eyes and drummed into our ears?
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God says, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” (Ps. 1:1–3). What is the chief influencer in your life? What is it that has the most air time to shape your heart’s affections, values, and commitments?

The Lord states that the man who is not influenced by the counsel or advice of the wicked, the man who avoids the way of life demonstrated by the sinner, the man who refuses to sit and listen to scoffers mock the goodness and greatness of our God is the man who is truly blessed. The good life—the blessed life—is not a life of sinful indulgence, and it is not a life that enjoys or entertains itself with the sinful indulgence of others. No, the blessed man is the one who guards his heart from the deluge of evil influences all around us.

Instead, the blessed man delights in the law of God! He doesn’t just read it—he DELIGHTS in the Word of God! He enjoys the Word of God. He cherishes it, hungers for it, and longs for it like a soldier on the front lines longing for a letter from his wife back home. The man who delights in the Scripture is like a tree firmly planted by a stream of water. There is an unending supply of gurgling life for his roots to drink deeply from. He thus bears luscious fruit, and his leaves wave green and vibrant in the breeze. His life is rich and fresh, prosperous and abundant with life.
Is your heart planted in the barren wasteland of radioactive sin and death? Nothing thrives there but death and sorrow. Are you slurping up the toxic sludge of humanity’s rebellion against God—sexually, violently, verbally, covetously, idolatrously, and blasphemously—and do you not think it has an adverse effect upon your heart? Can you take fire into your lap and not be burned? Can you drink poison and not grow sick? Can you wallow in the pigpen and not come out filthy and reeking of excrement? Your heart is being shaped, ever so subtly, by what you are allowing through the gates of your eyes and ears.
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If an ancient city were to open its gates and allow enemy soldiers to trickle in over the course of days, months, or years, how long do you think it would take before those enemy soldiers outnumber the citizens of the city and seize control? You think that your entertainment choices are not affecting you? This is simply self-delusion. Does your sugar consumption affect you? Maybe you don’t feel the effects immediately, only experiencing the temporary sugary-sweet pleasure of that food, but eventually the weight comes—and after that, diabetes. If you ever wonder why your faith feels so flat, so joyless, so experientially dead, then I would encourage you to take a careful look at where your heart is planted. Is it near the fresh, sparkling stream of God’s Word or in the barren wasteland of human rebellion? Who is influencing you more—Hollywood or the Bible? Which gets more face time with you? Which delights you? The blessed man is the man who avoids the influence of the wicked and chooses to saturate his heart with the Word of God.