Guarding The Heart, Part 1

One of my girls had been talking about wanting to see a particular scary movie. While I’d not seen the trailer, I’d heard about it and knew enough that she wouldn’t be allowed to see it. She kept asking why, and her dad and I kept replying with, It’s just not a good idea. Finally, she said, Y’all always tell me I can’t watch movies like that, but you never tell me why.

So I told her why. I gave her a brief explanation about the power of suggestion, and how things she views can get stuck in her head. I explained that watching such movies could open a door of interest to harmful activities. And I gave a few real-life examples.

We ended up in a conversation about wrong and right, and lists of rules. I told her I was less concerned about her following a list of rules, and more concerned about her heart. I said, If you love yourself and love others, you’ll do what’s best for yourself and for others.

I concluded by reminding her that it’s important for her to guard her heart. She asked exactly what that meant, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t give her a good explanation.

* * * * *

I’ve learned a few things about myself over the last few days. I’d been chatting with an online acquaintance about frustrations with trying to live out my dreams of music and writing. He suggested I take a personality test and a strengths-finder test, and sent me the links to each. So I took them, not really knowing if they’d be helpful to me in any way.

I was astonished at the results. The decriptions of my highest scores described me perfectly. I won’t bore you with all the details, but both tests indicated that I’m trusting, place high value on relationships, and have a strong fear of rejection.

I’ve contemplated those descriptions for the past few days. My first thought was that I don’t trust easily. But I’ve realized that’s not necessarily true.

As one of the descriptions indicated, I take the risk of trusting, of diving deep beneath the surface {probably way too quickly}. But at the first whiff of rejection, I’m out. I shut down.

Those results made me realize the necessity of guarding my heart. I’ve never been one to give that much thought. I either plop my heart out on the table, exposed for the world; or, I hide it behind steel walls…which one depends on the level of trust or rejection I feel.

But guarding my heart would result in something altogether different…not two such extremes.

* * * * *

I’ve mentioned several times reading John Eldredge’s Waking The Dead. Throughout the book, he talks about guarding your heart. And, of course, I’m familiar with Proverbs 4:23…Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. But the necessity of it didn’t click with me until I had the conversation with my daughter about the movie. I think I needed a more detailed answer as to why I should guard it, just as my daughter needed to know why she couldn’t watch the movie.

To guard something is to protect it from harm…to treat it as valuable.

I think about the tomb of the unknown soldier. The sole purpose of the soldiers is to guard the tomb. They know the value of what they’re protecting. They’re not distracted by any circumstances.

Our hearts need to be protected from harm. We live in a big world with lots of people and lots of agendas to harm our hearts. It seems nearly impossible to live in such a way that we’re always on guard, and not distracted. And if we did, it seems we’d end up living in a sort of legalism and possibly fear.

I became overwhelmed with the prospect of guarding my heart. So I began to dig, hoping to alleviate myself from such a full-time job. That’s when I found Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Since I dislike taking verses out of context, I read the surrounding verses. Just before verse 7, the reader is encouraged not to be anxious, but to pray about everything with thanksgiving. Just after verse 7, the reader is encouraged to think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.

I realized that attempting to guard our hearts on our own would be as stringent a job as that of the soldiers at the tomb. Instead, we’re told that the peace of God will guard our hearts {affections, passions} and our minds {understanding} in Jesus. We simply need to give up our worries in prayer, and engage our minds in truth. Sounds easy, right?

Even prayer and engaging in truth requires a conscious effort on our part. And for those of us who grew up with legalistic backgrounds, our minds tend to default to the law before the truth of grace.

The question then becomes…how do we engage our minds and live in truth so that our hearts are protected?

I think I’m learning the answer. Come back for part 2!