TODAY IN THE WORD
Last year wasn’t a great year for NASA, which lost two probes to Mars. But the space agency was able to repair the out-of-service Hubble Space Telescope. “The brains of Hubble have been replaced,” one astronaut announced from the space shuttle Discoveryas two space-walking astronauts replaced Hubble’s “antiquated” computer with a new one. The Discoverymission also replaced one of the space telescope’s fine guidance sensors, instruments the size of a piano, that point Hubble in the right direction.

We could think of our lives before we knew Jesus Christ as damaged Hubble telescopes, floating uselessly in space. When Christ saved us, He replaced the old “computer” of our thinking with a renewed mind, “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). He also replaced the flawed guidance system of our sinful old nature with a new “sensor,” the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

Of course, knowing Christ doesn’t guarantee we will always think correctly or walk a straight path, because we are still saddled with the remnants of the old nature. But as Christians, we have every spiritual resource we need to live faithful lives. And when two believers come together in marriage, the effect should be to double their strength (Eccl. 4:9-12).

How do we become the kind of marriage partners who bring real spiritual strength to our marriages? It has to come from inside, from our hearts, where the issues of life are formed, and then flow outward to shape us and impact the people close to us. Since our hearts or spirits aren’t just blank slates, we have to be careful what we put into our spiritual data bank.

Proverbs has a wonderful word of encouragement and a warning for us along this line. The Bible uses the heart to represent our inner spiritual being, and as such it is the control center of life. But notice also how these verses give us solid advice about how to guard our hearts.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Are you the kind of person who goes through a mental checklist before you leave for work or take a trip? You know--keys, purse or wallet, cash, briefcase, lunch, cell phone, tickets, whatever.

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