Guard your heart
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’’ (Proverbs 4:23)
You are warmly welcome!
The heart is the center of one’s being where one believes and exercises faith. It is the location of the human deliberation, where wisdom is employed. The heart is where a person discerns the difference between right and wrong. It is the center of courage, emotions and will, as well as the center of man’s character describing who he really is. Our thoughts, emotions come from our hearts and these govern our behavior. What you think is what you are. Psychologists often quote and say ‘‘Sow a thought, reap a deed. Sow a deed, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny’’. Guarding our hearts is such an important thing that we shouldn’t take lightly and the Bible often emphasizes the need to guard them.
How can we guard our hearts?
‘‘Do not be misled, Bad company corrupts good character’’ (1Cor15:33).
The people we spend with our time come from different backgrounds and have all sorts of thoughts about life. It is important we critically listen to them and observe them, and if there character isn’t noble, we distance ourselves from them lest we fall victim to it.
Listen and pay attention to what elder tell you – your parents, guardians as well as older people especially those in Church. In Proverbs 4:20-21 Solomon warned his son to carefully to listen to him and so should we when our parents talk to us.
Read, understand, meditate, and memorize the word of God because it is filled with wise truths about each and every situation we face in the course of our lives. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 109:11).
Apostle James gives us another action point: “Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another” (James 5:16). We need to have accountability partners so that we get more cautious about sin which stems from our thoughts, but also to often times give a report of where we are, what we are doing with our lives as well as what our plans are.
Friends, pray for us also that we might overcome sin in cases where we have sinned, and when we haven’t sinned, they pray that we don’t fall prey to it.
Finally and most importantly, yield your hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ so that He might be your Master. Jesus transforms peoples’ hearts and conforms wills to His own will that they might get to places of holiness, righteousness (Rom 12:1). Remember only those with a pure heart, those who don’t lift up their souls to idols or swear by what is false, those who put away perversity from their mouths and keep corrupt talk far from their lips – only these will ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place to receive a blessing from Him.
God bless you all.