Gaurding My Heart: the Why and the How
Ever since I became a Christian, I have been doing the dance called "live like a Christian" and it isn't the easiest thing I have ever done. There are lots of things that go along with trying to live a righteousn life so that I can bring God glory through my existence. One of the commands of God is to guard my heart and there are quite a few reasons as to why we should do this as well as a few ways to do this. Today, I think I realized/affirmed for myself some of this. Here we go!
Philippians 4:4-7"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again : rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In doing what Philippians 4:4-7 commands, you will be guarding your heart with the peace of God Himself! And what does that look like? Why is that important?
Proverbs 4:18-27"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life. Put away perversity from our mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your feet from evil."
It is so important to guard our hearts because all of our life force come from it. That is why it is said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks and there is nothing good that can come from the mouth of an evil heart (Matt 12:34-35). This is all said because our hearts are where everything we do comes from and all the life we live originates. Even physically, without the heart to pump blood to our lung to get oxygen then to our bodies to nourish us, we cannot survive! Our heart is proverbially and physically the wellspring of our lives. And what does proverbs say should be kept in our hearts? The Word of the Lord. ("keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.") It is very important that we consider God's Word and guidance, as well as guard it, in the most life giving and sacred part of ourselves: our hearts.
It now is evident that we should be guarding our hearts because it's where our life comes from, it is where we keep God's Word in us, and, lastly, it is where the Lord's throne is within us. We are to be keeping the Lord on the throne of our lives and if our life springs from our heart then that throne is in our heart. Just like the Christmas carol says, "let every heart prepare Him room", we should be daily preparing room in our hearts for our Savior and that room should be, well, all of it! The whole heart should be the throne and temple of Jesus, not just a portion of it, 100% of it!
Now then, if we understand the importance of our hearts and what they mean for our lives,then we can understand why we must guard it so mightily. I have heard, time and time again, how important it is to guard my heart and I have heard many different explanations as to how to guard my heart. Most of those directions went something like this, "Don't live like all the sinners and party and drink. Try to always think about what God would do and don't give yourself up to every person you meet because your heart might get broken". Not that I don't think that is a good and simple little bitty about guarding your heart, I think that version that is often preached/taught does not at all cover what it really means to guard our hearts.
As I mentioned at the top, Philippians says,"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again : rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If what Paul is saying here is true, then this is a clear step in guarding your heart, found right here in these verses. Let me hit a few big words: rejoice, gentleness, prayer, petition, thanksgiving, and all that goes along with those words (I.e. not being anxious, knowing the Lord is near). What does Paul say will happen when you live out these things? That the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind! Woah! Now this is a way I never looked at it before.
I thought guarding your heart was all about what I can do outwardly to protect myself inwardly but it is not that at all! It is about what I can surrender to God through worship and praise and thanksgiving and PRAYER that will allow God's peace to assist me in guarding my heart. I am not in anyway saying that we are not also responsible for the outward actions that help guard our heart but I am saying that there is a promise here, that when we do these things, God's peace comes over us and does a lot of heart guarding for us.
But Proverbs gives direction in how to guard our hearts. Shouldn't we also be following those commands? Commands like "put away perversity from our mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your feet from evil." The answer is absolutely! But when the peace of God has come into our lives because Jesus has the throne of our hearts and we are giving everything to Him as best as we can then following these commands becomes a little bit easier. And then, with time, following these commands becomes a piece of delicious cake that we gladly do daily, often without even thinking about it.
I just wanted to share this because it is crazy how much I put on myself to do in order to guard my heart or live a Christian life. These verses give us hope! We have hope that it is not all about what we can do on our own to guard our hearts but rather about how much we can give to God and praise Him and commune with Him in prayer that will guard our hearts. This is just another advantage of surrender and I know that I am excited to spend more time with Him knowing that He loves me enough to protect my heart,the place where He lives and all of my life comes from, in ways that I may not be able to.
PS another good gaurding your heart steps passage is Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."
Philippians 4:4-7"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again : rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In doing what Philippians 4:4-7 commands, you will be guarding your heart with the peace of God Himself! And what does that look like? Why is that important?
Proverbs 4:18-27"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life. Put away perversity from our mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your feet from evil."
It is so important to guard our hearts because all of our life force come from it. That is why it is said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks and there is nothing good that can come from the mouth of an evil heart (Matt 12:34-35). This is all said because our hearts are where everything we do comes from and all the life we live originates. Even physically, without the heart to pump blood to our lung to get oxygen then to our bodies to nourish us, we cannot survive! Our heart is proverbially and physically the wellspring of our lives. And what does proverbs say should be kept in our hearts? The Word of the Lord. ("keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.") It is very important that we consider God's Word and guidance, as well as guard it, in the most life giving and sacred part of ourselves: our hearts.
It now is evident that we should be guarding our hearts because it's where our life comes from, it is where we keep God's Word in us, and, lastly, it is where the Lord's throne is within us. We are to be keeping the Lord on the throne of our lives and if our life springs from our heart then that throne is in our heart. Just like the Christmas carol says, "let every heart prepare Him room", we should be daily preparing room in our hearts for our Savior and that room should be, well, all of it! The whole heart should be the throne and temple of Jesus, not just a portion of it, 100% of it!
Now then, if we understand the importance of our hearts and what they mean for our lives,then we can understand why we must guard it so mightily. I have heard, time and time again, how important it is to guard my heart and I have heard many different explanations as to how to guard my heart. Most of those directions went something like this, "Don't live like all the sinners and party and drink. Try to always think about what God would do and don't give yourself up to every person you meet because your heart might get broken". Not that I don't think that is a good and simple little bitty about guarding your heart, I think that version that is often preached/taught does not at all cover what it really means to guard our hearts.
As I mentioned at the top, Philippians says,"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again : rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If what Paul is saying here is true, then this is a clear step in guarding your heart, found right here in these verses. Let me hit a few big words: rejoice, gentleness, prayer, petition, thanksgiving, and all that goes along with those words (I.e. not being anxious, knowing the Lord is near). What does Paul say will happen when you live out these things? That the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind! Woah! Now this is a way I never looked at it before.
I thought guarding your heart was all about what I can do outwardly to protect myself inwardly but it is not that at all! It is about what I can surrender to God through worship and praise and thanksgiving and PRAYER that will allow God's peace to assist me in guarding my heart. I am not in anyway saying that we are not also responsible for the outward actions that help guard our heart but I am saying that there is a promise here, that when we do these things, God's peace comes over us and does a lot of heart guarding for us.
But Proverbs gives direction in how to guard our hearts. Shouldn't we also be following those commands? Commands like "put away perversity from our mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your feet from evil." The answer is absolutely! But when the peace of God has come into our lives because Jesus has the throne of our hearts and we are giving everything to Him as best as we can then following these commands becomes a little bit easier. And then, with time, following these commands becomes a piece of delicious cake that we gladly do daily, often without even thinking about it.
I just wanted to share this because it is crazy how much I put on myself to do in order to guard my heart or live a Christian life. These verses give us hope! We have hope that it is not all about what we can do on our own to guard our hearts but rather about how much we can give to God and praise Him and commune with Him in prayer that will guard our hearts. This is just another advantage of surrender and I know that I am excited to spend more time with Him knowing that He loves me enough to protect my heart,the place where He lives and all of my life comes from, in ways that I may not be able to.
PS another good gaurding your heart steps passage is Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."
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