Thoughts of Juliet
One of the most important organs of the body is the heart. It pumps blood around the body and helps other organs to function properly. Most times, when a person is presumed to be dead, the person ‘s well being is confirmed by listening for a heartbeat or checking for a pulse. Also in the hospital, when the doctor is ‘losing a patient’, the person’s heartbeat is monitored on the EKG machine. In cases of emergency, the person ‘s heart is brought back to beating with defibrillator pads. All these actions are directed towards the chest region where the heart resides. Well, apart from healthcare, the heart plays a great role in our daily lives.
The kind of heart a person has, is as good as his or her truest self and for every action taken in life, it is first conceived in the mind and then nursed in the heart. This means that before someone does something, he or she first thinks about, considers it in the heart before acting on it. The heart is the seat of decisions and the decisions we make on a daily basis form the kind of life we will have. This is why the Bible advises us to guard our hearts.
Whatever or whoever gains access into our heart , has gained access into our lives. Whatever or whoever has our heart, has gained total control of us. It is important for us to set up a tight security system for our heart. It is also important for us to give our hearts a standard by which they will function, reason and process the ideas life presents to us. There is no life issue that does not affect the heart. People relate to the happy moments of their lives with joy in their hearts. People also relate to negative experiences with pain and hurt in their hearts. But the heart is not a helpless part of being human. It is not a part of us, left open and unprotected to whatever life throws at us.
People sometimes treat their hearts as if it was an independent entity, as if it has a mind and will of its own. As if the heart had some kind of right to feel whatever it wants to feel. This is a wrong way to look at it. Our hearts belong to us, it is not just residing in our chest region for nothing. It was placed there by God for a reason, this reason: that we will be custodians of it and guard it. It is a part of us with great potential and great leverage. Whatever you believe in your heart will become your reality, whether it is true or not. Whatever ideas are able to enter your heart and remain there , automatically becomes part of you.
Consider the kind of world we live in as christians. A world where many practices are against the word of God. A world where some people do not believe in God. They can say some things to kill your faith in God, they can also try to convince you to do things that do not please God. They may just want to hurt your feelings. This is why it is important that you guard your heart. It is the real you that is on the inside. Nothing or no one can get to you without getting across your heart.
Now, you may ask: ‘what kind of tight security system can a person set up for his or her heart?, Which standard can be set for the heart by which it will function, reason and process the ideas of life?’. Good question. The tight security and standard we can set for our hearts is having a close relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ and the word of God. If we are true christians, sincerely devoted to God, loyal to our covenant with him and dedicated to our christian walk, we will have the discernment of the Holy Spirit. It is the discernment of the Holy Spirit that will help us to hear God speaking. We are also able to make right decisions when we view everything in the mirror of God’s word.
Whatever ideas that are introduced to us, we are to weigh it on the scale of God ‘s word. When we do so, we will see everything in the light of what they truly are. In our prayer and word life, our ears are trained to hear God and learn how He speaks. All these and more will keep us safe. Most of us do not understand how much God loves us. He cares so much about us and knows everything. He knows the end result of every action, whether good or bad. God is love. His love is the most powerful kind in the whole universe. There is no love like His. We all know that when you love someone, you would not want anything bad to happen to the person. This person’s happiness will be your happiness and this person’s pain will be your pain. In the same way, God loves us even stronger and He is full of compassion. He feels what we feel as if those emotions were His very own. He understands perfectly how we feel and so tries to protect us from all harm.
One of the ways He tries to protect us from harm is through the things he asks us not to do. Because God knows that the wages of sin is death, He gives us the command not to sin because it separates us from Him and exposes us to the aftermath of sin. The aftermath of sin is all pain, hurt, sadness and depression. This exactly is what God is keeping us from experiencing. He does not want us to experience it because it hurts Him to watch us suffer.
Remember He is a compassionate God, He feels what we feel. The Bible also gives us guidelines on how to stay safe and unhurt. One of the guidelines is for us to guard our hearts. If we guard our hearts, not everything can come into our lives or get to us. Our hearts should be guarded, protected and nourished like the precious treasure it is. A treasure that is so dear to God, He does not want us to give it away to just anyone. He wants us to trust Him with our hearts by obeying His word. He wants us to give Him all of our hearts, not necessarily because He wants to control us but because He wants to hold us in His hands, the best place we can ever be.
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