Align your antenna

Growing up in the 1960’s and 70’s we relied upon an odd contraption sitting on our roofs for TV reception.  An antenna. Antennas worked by intercepting radio waves from broadcasting stations and converting them into electrical signals that a TV would then process into picture and sound.

My father, who was quite handy, had put together a mechanical system that allowed us to fine tune the antenna’s position toward the broadcast tower to dial in the best picture. It consisted of a control dial that set underneath the tv stand that linked to a motor that would rotate the antenna. Believe it or not, it was high tech. That control knob was what we had to orient the antenna toward the signal we wanted to receive. Without it we picked up static and a garbled picture.

The same function exists for men in the kingdom, but in this situation our hearts are the antenna.

Proverbs 2:2

making your ear attentive to wisdom    

and inclining your heart to understanding;

The heart is something we just don’t talk about enough as men, but we should. God did. The two books in the bible that have the highest occurrence of “heart” are Psalms and Proverbs (114 and 73 occurrences respectively, depending upon your translation). Written by the anointed king and the wisest of men these are words we should take to heart (irony intended). The third is Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, it’s clear that the remedy for their waywardness lies not in going to church more, or attending a men’s events, but reorienting their heart toward God.  

Jer 17:5

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

The alignment of our heart determines the outflow of our will, conscience, mind, emotions, habits, actions and behaviors, level of trust and the quality and make up of our character. And we don’t talk about this?

Psalms and Proverbs read like an owner’s manual for the heart. What it is, what to do, what not to do, how to empty or fill it, how to maintain it. These two books are a workshop that all men should read and take to heart. Change the heart, change the man.

Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

The question every man should ask becomes quite simple, "If the heart is my antenna, to what is it inclined?”

For that is what will define the broadcast of your life.