Police Devotion 9-16-2016
“Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.” (Lamentations 3:51)
In Lamentations, Jeremiah talks of how God’s people were taken captive because of their chronic sin. Maybe he wrote these words because he was heartbroken at seeing the young ladies, the “daughters of my city,” taken as captives because of their parents’ sins. At any rate, Jeremiah’s heart was affected by what he saw. That’s an important truth, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart,” as we’ll see shortly.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” God plainly tells us to keep our hearts, so it must be possible to keep our hearts from becoming cold and indifferent about God. God wouldn’t give us a command that He knew we couldn’t keep. Proverbs 23:7 also says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” To put it another way, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” You can be tempted as a cop to be mean, cold-hearted, bitter, and uncaring, but you don’t have to be. As a cop, if you want, you can love the Lord and care about people. What you decide you’ll be, so you’ll be. If you know Jesus as Saviour, He’s promised to give you grace to help you have a right heart toward Him. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Here’s where “Mine eye affecteth mine heart” comes in. It says that what we see affects how we think in our hearts. As a cop, you see a lot of things that affect your heart: things like domestic fights with live-in lovers in roach-infested apartments; bloody, gory death scenes; and sex offenders who do vile things to kids. Things you see on the job do affect your heart, and you often can’t control dealing with them. But what about things you can control? For example, do you watch TV shows or movies with sex, vulgar words, or violence? Or listen to music with foul lyrics? Would you let your younger kids watch or listen to such things? If you wouldn’t, why not? Would these things have a bad effect on them? What about how they affect you? You may say they don’t affect you, but God says they do: “Mine eye affecteth mine heart.”
Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” You don’t choose the runs you’re called to, but you choose your entertainment. Any show, even a “cop show” or “cop movie” where sin is glorified and exploited, is wicked. Hollywood isn’t about morals—it is about money. When you put wicked things in front of your eyes, they affect your heart in a bad way. God’s Word says so.
Moreover, if you spend little time in God’s Word and don’t regularly go to a church where God’s Word is preached faithfully, you’re not giving your heart much good food through your “eye-gate” or “ear-gate.” If your “heart food” consists of what you see on the job, how you entertain yourself, and very little of God’s Word, don’t be surprised if your heart is cold toward God.
You may know officers who are saved but are indifferent about God. They may even know in their hearts that things aren’t right, but they’re still cold. You may feel that way yourself at times. Well, there’s good news. Nobody has to become that way, and even people who have become that way don’t have to stay that way. Our verse says, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart,” and that principle works both ways. If you can affect your heart in an evil way by feeding it garbage, you can also affect it in a good way by feeding it with God’s Word, God’s music, and faithful preaching.
If you’re saved but you’ve neglected God’s Word and God’s church, then do what the Lord told the Christians at Laodicea to do: “…be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:19). Ask the Lord to forgive you of your neglect and help you to feed regularly on His truth.
If you aren’t sure that you’ll get to heaven, please click “Helpful Links” on the top menu and then “How Do I Go to Heaven?” on the dropdown menu to see how to receive the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour.
Brian Miller 9/16/2016
Cleveland Baptist Church | 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 | 216.671.2822