Well Well Well - #259

What you allow into your mind today will eventually show up in how you live tomorrow.

Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at  http://www.thepuritycoach.com

Transcript

Have you ever really stopped to think about the conversations you listen to, the shows you watch, the music you hear, the attitudes of the people you spend time with—all of it feeds into your mind. And what enters your mind eventually begins shaping your thoughts. Those thoughts, in turn, begin shaping your choices, your attitudes, and ultimately the direction of your life.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A powerful weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity and godliness. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #259 entitled “Well Well Well.” 

Let me repeat, What you allow into your mind today will eventually show up in how you live tomorrow.

That’s why your mind plays such an important role in your pursuit of purity and godliness. Scripture recognizes this, which is why Proverbs 4:23 gives such a strong command: “Above all else, guard your heart.” In the language of Scripture, the “heart” often refers to the inner life—the mind, the will, the thoughts that drive everything else. So, God’s instruction is essentially this: protect what enters your mind. Be careful with it. Treat it as something valuable.

That’s why allowing sinful thinking into your mind is never a small thing. It’s not just a passing thought that disappears without consequence. It’s more like dropping contamination into the well that supplies water for the rest of your life.

Let me give you a simple picture. Have you ever stood near a wishing well or a fountain somewhere—maybe in a park or a mall—and tossed a coin in just for fun? Maybe an old penny you didn’t care about. It didn’t seem like a big deal. Just one little coin.

Now imagine that well represents your mind. What’s getting tossed into it? What kinds of ideas, images, and conversations are being dropped in there every day? What are you allowing to enter through what you watch, what you listen to, and what you dwell on?

Most of the time, the things that influence us don’t arrive with a big warning label. They just slip in quietly, one thought at a time, one image at a time, one conversation at a time. But over time those little influences begin to accumulate, and before long they start shaping the water that flows out of your life.

That’s why guarding your heart—guarding your mind—is so important. It’s not about living in fear or isolating yourself from the world. It’s about being intentional. It’s about paying attention to what you allow to settle into your thoughts. Because whatever fills the well will eventually flow out of it.

I’d like to take a few moments here in this episode and do something a bit different than normal. I’d like to read to you. What I’m going to read is a small portion of Chapter Four of my book “Are You a Super Man? How to Become God’s Man of Steel.”

Imagine that you are living in a remote village where your only source of water is a single well just on the outskirts of town. The climate is hot, dry, and unfriendly. You have no other resource for water, so you desperately need that well. The nearest neighboring village is over one hundred miles away on foot through arid, dangerous wasteland – a trek you dare not take.  

Without the fresh water in your well, you and everyone in your village would surely die. Suddenly that well becomes extremely important, doesn’t it? The water it contains is now worth more than all the gold, silver and precious stones in the world combined.  

In addition, imagine that just outside of your village is your arch enemy, intent on your total annihilation. The leader of that demonic army will stop at nothing to see you dead, or at the very least weak and sickly – totally unable to defend yourself, completely vulnerable to his every attack. 

Rarely does he try frontal assaults, as he knows you will stand firm, holding your ground, determined to not give him even an inch. However, by using guerilla warfare he effectively wears you down. Again and again, he peppers you with ambushes, sabotage, mini-raids, petty annoyances and hit-and-run tactics.

His goal: poison the well – that precious well from which you draw life. He knows it cannot be too much poison all at once, nor too powerful, otherwise you might detect it. No, he’s just going to add a drop tonight, and then another drop or two in about a week from now. Maybe two or three drops the following week. Just enough to slowly taint the water and make you sick.

Your enemy is coy, he’s subtle, and his methods are surprisingly simple. First, he walks up to you, dressed like one of your neighbors or co-workers, and engages you in idle conversation that goes nowhere, and yet seems to take your full attention. You talk about the weather, you discuss the latest movies, and you even talk about religion. As he tells you a joke that’s just a bit off-color, you don’t see him reach behind your back and drop a pellet of something evil into the well. A few moments later he abruptly ends the conversation with a friendly smile and walks away.

On another day he saunters up to you, in the form of a woman. Oh, not in an erotic way, but subtly provocative. He knows that if he were to overdo it, you’d be suspicious. So, her top reveals just a slight amount of her cleavage; you barely catch a hint of her perfume. Her eyes seem to suck you right in, and her smile makes you melt. As you blush in her presence, fumbling for the right words to say, you never notice her tip a vile of some wicked concoction into your well. You don’t hear it hiss as it hits the water.

Yet another time he comes up to you, like an old friend, familiar and yet somehow not. He begins to tell you a story. You picture in your mind’s eye the action as he describes the chase; you feel the emotion as he tells of a love lost. You cringe at some of the strong language he uses, but you dismiss it as being part of the storyline. Enthralled in the exploits of the hero and the drama surrounding the heroine, you don’t even notice that he sat, rather comfortably, on the edge of the well. As his story focuses on a bedroom scene where the actors are romantically enjoying each other’s company, he lets slip from his grasp a pale, innocent looking powder into the water.

Day after day, week after week, he approaches you in various, ingeniously crafted disguises. Some of them you’ve become familiar, even friendly with. You never suspect that anything is wrong. Yet, as you daily drink from that well, the poisoned water slowly begins to do its work. 

Your body starts to weaken - imperceptible at first, but you are feeling more and more fatigued. Your vision is becoming a bit blurred. Your response time is slowing. You become lethargic, melancholy, and can’t seem to make yourself care about things that once seemed important. Your thinking at times is a bit confused and you find your attention being quickly drawn away to other things. Your priorities have changed. You’ve forgotten why you are wearing that heavy, cumbersome armor. Fighting the battle just doesn’t seem to be as important anymore.

As time progresses and you go through your daily routines, you find yourself looking forward to his visits.  In fact, when you see him approaching, you lean your sword up against the side of the well and greet him with a smile. Taking your helmet off and setting it on the ground next to your breastplate, you embrace him warmly. He’s become like an old friend, a glove that fits ever so comfortably. He hands you a chocolate-chip cookie, freshly baked, laced with more of his poison. You wash it down with a huge gulp of tainted well water. His task is nearly complete. His goal almost accomplished.

That is one of the stories I wrote, found in Chapter Four of my book “Are You a Super Man? How to Become God’s Man of Steel.” Think for a moment about the story we just walked through. As it unfolded, we watched the enemy carefully use the same kinds of tactics he has always used—subtle, calculated, and very effective. His goal was simple: contaminate the source. If he could get to the well, everything else would eventually be affected. And that’s exactly why the well mattered so much.

You and I also have a well. But the well we’re talking about isn’t made of stone or dug into the ground. It’s the well of your heart and mind—the place where your thoughts, attitudes, and desires take shape. And just like those ancient wells, what’s inside that well directly affects your health. Not your physical health this time, but your spiritual health.

And here’s the important part: you only have one well. The quality of what comes out of that well—your words, your attitudes, your reactions, your decisions—will determine the direction and character of your life. That’s why Scripture gives such a strong warning in Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart.” In other words, protect that well with everything you’ve got.

Why? Because we have an enemy who would love nothing more than to contaminate it. His approach isn’t always loud or obvious. Sometimes it’s quiet and gradual. A little compromise here, a small influence there, a thought you entertain that you probably shouldn’t. Over time those little things begin to seep into the well. And once the source becomes polluted, the effects don’t stay contained—they spread.

So, we have to guard that well carefully. We have to be thoughtful about what we allow into it. Not everything deserves access to your mind. Not every voice deserves your attention. Not every image or idea deserves space in your thoughts.

Let me say this again because it’s so important: if the well becomes polluted, it will absolutely affect the rest of your life. Your attitudes will reflect it. Your behavior will reflect it. The words you speak will reflect it. In fact, every part of your life will eventually reveal what’s in that well.

Proverbs 4:23 calls the heart “the wellspring of life.” That’s a powerful picture. Everything flows from there. So, if the well is pure, what flows out will be healthy. But if the well becomes contaminated, everything that comes out will carry that contamination with it.

That’s why even the smallest compromise matters. You wouldn’t knowingly drop something toxic into a drinking well and shrug it off by saying, “Well, it’s only a little bit.” Even a small amount can ruin the water. The same principle applies to the heart.

Now listen to how this connects with what Paul says in Colossians 3:17. He writes, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” In other words, whatever we say and whatever we do—wherever we are and whatever situation we’re in—it should reflect and honor Christ.

Our lives are meant to point back to Him. But think about what that means practically. If our words and actions are meant to glorify God, then what we allow into our minds matters too. Because what goes into the mind eventually shows up in what we say and what we do.

So, if something doesn’t honor God—if it pulls your thinking in the wrong direction, feeds sinful attitudes, or dulls your sensitivity to what’s right—then wisdom says it doesn’t belong in your well.

And sometimes that means making a simple but powerful choice: choosing not to watch something, choosing not to listen to something, choosing not to dwell on certain thoughts. Not because you’re trying to be rigid or legalistic, but because you understand what’s at stake. Those things influence your thinking. And your thinking shapes your life.

So once again, the message is simple but incredibly important: protect your well. Pay attention to what you allow into your heart and mind. Be intentional about guarding it. Because what fills that well today will eventually flow out into every area of your life.

Above all else, guard your heart.

Alright friends, I’m going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode. But before we go, I want to make sure you know there’s plenty more you can dive into if today’s study sparked something in you. If you want to dig deeper, or if you’re curious about what we do through The Pure Man Ministry—helping men all over the world find freedom and victory over sexual sin—you can check out our website at ThePurityCoach.com. We’ve got a ton of resources waiting for you there.

Before we wrap up, I want to highlight one resource that I really believe can make a huge difference in your life. It’s the newly updated second edition of my book, “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to transform sinful thoughts and habits into patterns of life pleasing to God.”

This isn’t just a light refresh. This second edition is packed with hundreds of Scripture references, tons of practical illustrations, and now each chapter ends with a study guide full of questions and discussion points. So whether you’re using it for personal growth, a small group, or accountability with a friend, it’s designed to help you go deeper.

The whole heart behind “Extreme Mind Makeover”  is this: your thought life matters more than you realize. The book walks you through Scripture to see what God says about how your thoughts shape your words, your actions, and ultimately your heart.

If you’ve been listening to the Point of Purity Podcast for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard me say this again and again: what you think eventually becomes what you do. Train your mind to think godly thoughts, and over time your daily words and actions will reflect that. But let your mind drift toward sinful, self-centered, “King Me” thinking, and it will show up in your attitudes, your habits, and your choices.

So the real questions become: How do I change the way I think? How do I break sinful patterns? How do I guard my heart in a world that constantly pulls it in the wrong direction?

That’s exactly what “Extreme Mind Makeover” is all about. It takes you straight into God’s Word to help you answer those questions in a practical, biblical way. This isn’t behavior management—it’s heart transformation. It’s about allowing God to reshape the way you think so that your life begins to reflect Him more and more.

So I’d encourage you to head over to Amazon.com and pick up your copy of “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to transform sinful thoughts and habits into patterns of life pleasing to God.” Or you can simply search my name, Steve Etner,, and check out any of the other books the Lord has allowed me to write.

If you’re serious about changing your thought life, guarding your heart, and walking in real freedom, this is a great next step.

And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes! So, until next time this is Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry – reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.