Protect Your Heart
“23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23
If we’re honest, we’ve all suffered the agony of heartbreak. The obvious examples would revolve around romantic relationships and even friendships. However, I’ve experienced heartbreak with career and music opportunities, ministry situations, and beyond. As you reflect and recall some of your most excruciating heartbreaking moments, let’s talk about building “heartbreak safety measures” to help ensure a healthy heart moving forward.
Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to guard our hearts. The New Living Translation reads, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” This points to developing a heart that chases the things of God. A heart for Him craves the things that he wants for us, as opposed to the things we desire for ourselves. This is important because often the things that we want for ourselves will prove to either be harmful, or disastrous to our purpose. So, the question has become, “How do I develop a Heart that chases God?” I’m glad you asked!
First, we must recognize that the heart is wicked - Jeremiah 17:9 reads, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked who really knows how bad it is?” Our hearts in their natural states are deceitful and wicked. Because of our sin nature and the elements of sin this world, our hearts crave things that are offensive and opposite to the will of God for our lives. In Matthew 15:18 Jesus said it this way, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.” In one verse, Jesus let us know just how wicked the human heart can be. Verse 18 takes us just a little deeper when He said, “But the words you speak come from the heart”. One could look at that scripture and conclude that our vocabulary will expose our hearts! Nonetheless, the human heart is such a mess (just look at the state of the world), that large scale heart transplants are in order.
Secondly, we must submit to a spiritual heart transplant (Create in me a clean heart). Psalm 51:10 describes King David in despair. He had transgressed God and it hurt him deeply. His words were, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” The first sentence is what I want to focus on for the sake of this discussion. David realized that it was his heart that led him to the transgression. The wickedness in his heart led him to not only do the unthinkable but attempt to cover it up. Once confronted, David… A man that was after God’s own heart, realized that his heart convinced him to try and conceal something from a God that he loved so dearly. Hence, the request to undergo a spiritual heart transplant. Allow God to transform your heart from one that craves what you desire, to one that seeks His will!
Finally, protect your new heart! In a natural heart surgery, (one where the heart or valves are replaced and repaired) there are post op instructions. These instructions are designed to keep the patient from overexerting themselves and potentially causing damage to the new heart. After God creates a new heart in you, a heart that was designed to chase his purpose for your life, it’s important for you to proceed with caution. Prayerfully enter relationships and ask for discernment and wisdom (James 1:5) when entering and exiting them. Guard that heart because from it will follow the paths you take!