Daily Devotional For Monday, March 30, 2026
Good day Southside. We live in a world where security has become a top priority. I remember as a child we would go to bed at night in the summer with our doors not only unlocked, but opened to allow for the cooler night air to come through the house. We had our windows raised up to allow for a breeze to join our fans to keep us cooler on those hot summer nights. We left our cars unlocked at night and when people drove to a place, they did not lock their doors. Well, those days are gone. Today, we lock our doors coming and going. We have automatic locks in our cars so that when we start the car, our cars lock themselves. Homes and companies have security systems that get armed to give you a sense of safety. Our home has one.
I have so many different logins and passwords for so many different web sites that I honestly cannot keep up with them all. I have an app I pay a yearly subscription to called “Keeper.” In it I have listed alphabetically all the different companies, web sites, etc. with their logins and passwords. It’s security for me to access it is biometrics – facial recognition opens the app up for me. Everywhere you go today someone or something is on guard and for good reasons.
Our devotional for today comes from Proverbs 4:23, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life” (AMP-C). Other translations put it this way: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life” (NASB). “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT). The point of this verse is that life does not flow from the outside in; it flows from the inside out. Our hearts are continuously filled with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit or they will be filled continuously with the indwelling presence of our own self-centeredness.
Jesus warned us about this in John 7:37-38, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. (38) For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from the heart of anyone who believes in Me’” (NLT-R). We do not lose our way if we keep coming to Jesus and drinking from Him the Living Water. The prophet Jeremiah under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes this in Jeremiah 17:9, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (NLT). Can I get an “Amen” to that?
Just when we think we have seen or heard it all, someone’s heart shows us just how fallen, evil, deceitful and perverse the human heart can be. Due to the Fall and sin, the human heart has a hunger and a thirst that only Christ can satisfy. So many turn to counterfeits of sex, a substance or someone or something to fill that void and emptiness. This includes people who call themselves Christians. When we get upset or angry, we turn to food, or fun or a false god to compensate and when we do, we corrupt our hearts even more.
Today, what we look at on our phones, tablets, computers and TVs turn our hearts to stone. Remember the old Greek myth of Medusa whose hair was made up of asps and vipers? Anyone who looked at Medusa immediately turned to stone. In Greek mythology when the hero Perseus beheaded Medusa, her head still retained its power to turn anyone to stone who looked at her head. Today, we turn to all kinds of “Medusas” instead of the Master and each time we do, our hearts not only become more evil, they become more hardened to the voice of the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 3, it was a spiritual Medusa snake that turned Adam and Eve’s heart to stone against God. When that happened, BAM, sin entered the world! Our relationship to God was destroyed! Ever since, the world has its own Medusas for us to look at, which turn our hearts to stone. The best defense against our hearts being hardened is Scripture.
Reflection Assignment: Take a moment to evaluate the different “Medusas” you look at that are turning your own heart to stone spiritually. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what they are and then put into place guards for those. Most of the time, memorizing certain Scriptures are great guards. Add apps that block you from going to certain web sites or set your smart TV with limits to what can be viewed without a password. Get a spiritual accountability partner.
Scripture To Meditate On: Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to guard my heart so that I do no sin against You. As David prayed in Psalm 51:10, create in me a clean heart. Lord, please purge from my heart any and all sin. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love You Southside! – Pastor Kelly