Establish the Entrance and the Exits

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We recently crossed the midpoint of the year on God's calendar. Sometimes the middle of things can get a little messy but if you establish the beginning and the end of anything the middle will usually take care of itself. The Bible follows this pattern. It starts and ends well but it gets pretty messy in the middle. 

The other day I was reading in Ezekiel 44 and verse 5 says...Give attention to the entrance to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. When I looked this verse up in Hebrew it reads something like the following...

Establish in your heart the entrance and the exits.

I used to have a baseball coach in college who constantly preached that if the beginning and the end of the baseball swing were in the correct place then everything in the middle would usually work out. I didn't realize it at the time but this is a Biblical principle because Jesus is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.

In Ezekiel, God is referring to the entrance and exits of the temple. Our bodies are the temple now and we must guard our heart because from it spring the issues of life. Jesus said all of our words and action spring from what is stored up in our hearts.

Here is my take from this verse... We must establish or get firm and fixed what we allow into our hearts. God's word, his steadfast, love, his righteousness, and his faithfulness are what are supposed to be established in our hearts and we need to be watchful for other things that try to creep in. Sometimes we build stories in our minds that are not true. We can establish these in our hearts through studying God's word, connecting with him, and meditating in his word to get it rooted and established. Then we also need to establish the exits.

How are the words and actions that are coming out of us? Are they fixed and established in love and grace or are we constantly wavering back and forth? As we give attention to the words and actions that are coming out of us, we will see areas to make corrections. But, as we continue to feed on his word and grow it through meditation, it will transform our words and actions. 

Another thing to establish is the beginning and the end of your day. If you get good routines established to start and end your day the middle usually goes a lot better.