Purpose: To think practically about what it means to "guard your heart."
Activity: Ask a different person to read each scenario below. After each one has been read, ask the group how this person could guard his or her heart.
- Sheila went away to college. Although she's a Christian, her new roommate, Jackie, is not.
- Jeff just started a new job. His boss decided to initiate him by sending him to a porn website as a joke.
- Garrett is a freshman in high school. He decided to bring his Bible to school, but everyone made fun of him.
Read Proverbs 4:20-27.
[Q] What does the author mean when he references the "heart"?
Leader's note: In the ancient worldview, the heart as an organ was viewed as the center of a person both in a physical and metaphysical way. The heart was viewed as the center of your being—almost what we would consider as our "soul." This included functions like thinking and reasoning, which science has since discovered as operating in the brain.
[Q] What opportunities for perversity and corrupt talk are available to us in today's culture?
[Q] How can we decide which paths are "level" and "firm"?