Spiritual Social Distancing
Today’s devotional is about spiritual “social distancing” and God’s prescription for not catching the virus of hatred!
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
During this pandemic, social distancing has become the norm to ensure that people do not get infected by someone else’s virus. This also includes their family members whom they don’t live with. When people are hateful, their hate is also contagious and impacts other people around them. Interestingly, we don’t distance ourselves when people are hateful towards others. Instead, we get curious about their point of view and frustration, and we get closer to find out all the details about what caused them to be angry. The problem is that now you catch their virus, and you can begin to get offended and angry about the issues that others are upset about. Proverbs 22:24 tells us that we need to distance ourselves from angry people and not get close to them!
The above scripture tells us three truths that can keep evil and hatred lodging itself in our lives. First, the scripture tells us to listen to the Lord’s instructions, place them before our eyes, and keep them in our hearts. What we receive through our ears and eyes will determine what will lodge in our hearts!
Secondly, the Bible tells us to keep God’s truths in our hearts. To keep something we need to watch over it, so it won’t get stolen. For example, if you are walking on a busy street, you are more conscious of how you carry your wallet or purse. Because it is valuable, you don’t want someone stealing it. If someone wants to get close to you, you may pull away because you don’t know their intent. Similarly, we need to keep and guard our hearts, so no one would steal our love for God and for others.
If we don’t keep and guard our hearts, it will get contaminated by other people’s issues and offense and will catch other people’s virus of hatred. The scripture is very clear about guarding our hearts because everything springs out of the condition of our hearts!
Thirdly, the scripture tells us to keep ourselves from corrupt speech. It is very difficult to be around someone who is angry and critical of others and not make our speech negative. It is as if we have to agree with them to ensure they know that we are sympathizing with them. Guarding the heart and the mouth is critical to remaining free from the virus of hatred and not spreading the virus to others!
Who do you listen to? What do you watch or read that influences your heart? Are you curious when people are angry and they are spewing hatred towards others? Do you get closer to find all the juicy details or do you change direction and avoid partaking of their poison? Do you allow people’s harsh and unkind words about others to form your opinion of others? Do you participate in negativity and use harsh and critical words towards others?
If we are going to protect ourselves from the virus of hatred, we need to practice spiritual “social distancing” and not allow ourselves to be contaminated by the virus of hatred. This doesn’t mean that you need stop loving people or you need to cut off relationships. It only means that you are protecting yourself from catching the virus of hatred and falling prey to getting spiritually sick!
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.