What If We Guarded Our Hearts? {Proverbs 4:23}
What if?
What if we prepared our hearts the way we prepare our faces?
What if we took care of our hearts the way we take care of a nice vehicle?
What if we treasured our hearts more than money?
"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." {Proverbs 4:23}
I want to keep this post extremely general as I am just as guilty of this as anyone else.
But, I had the privilege of being a part of a meeting last evening that really made me think about where my heart is, what I am doing with it, and how well I am guarding it.
I would like to parallel preparing, taking care of/guarding, and treasuring our hearts with putting on makeup, detailing a car, and investing financially. Bear with me.
I am not a super huge makeup girl, never have been, never will be. The reasons are not important. What is important is how this can relate to our hearts.
There are incredible skin care lines out there, I make no joke of makeup. There are endless lines to make us beautiful, have fewer wrinkles, enhance collagen, etc.
We have counters filled with moisturizer, toner, exfoliating mixtures, foundation, etc. We get up each morning and spend our time using a small amount from each container, carefully following our normal routine. Time may vary for each person; but, once finished, most times we walk away feeling "unblemished" and "beautiful".
What would it look like if we did this with our hearts?
This may look different for everyone, so I ask for grace; I merely write. But, imagine if our hearts were our faces. Imagine if we get up in the morning and gently wash and exfoliate it with a prayer to start our day. Then we would tone and moisturize our hearts by quieting ourselves to sit and read His Word for a moment. In doing this, we would find that our foundation was a part of quieting, we are firm in His truth. Imagine singing, our blush, mascara, eye-liner, etc., of sorts. (Once again, grace). I have no more to write on this, but let's simply imagine that this would happen every single morning.
Moving on to paralleling this with detailing a car.
Your heart is filled with junk. It's broken and dirty. Can you clean it all by yourself? No. But some days choosing to be at the foot of the Cross comes by you making it intentional.
So, your heart, it's filled with junk, it's broken and dirty. Sometimes spiritually we just want to take our hearts through a quick-fix car wash; but I wonder if sometimes that doesn't hurt us more than actually do us good. Imagine walking to your heart and seeing that it could use a good wash and wax on the outside and a good vacuuming and cleaning on the inside. What do you do? You grab your supplies and get to work. Once again, those prayers, those desperate ones that ache? They have such a wonderful ability to lay all our dirt at the foot of that rugged Cross. Taking our dirt there washes us clean. But, we can't just stop there. Pouring over the Word of God will clean out our deepest inside parts of our raw imperfectness. Knowing the His truth by heart protects are hearts just like that coat of wax that is put on a vehicle. What would it look like having our hearts clean and brought before Jesus on more than just a once-a-week detailing?
Investments. Ahhh, I am no pro at this; yet I imagine this can definitely be paralleled with our hearts as well.
Say you are blessed with an inheritance. The wise thing would be not to go spend it frivolously. You would find someone could advise you on how to invest it. You would discuss: stock options, bonds, IRAs, etc. You would educate yourself in this subject, discussing each decision with your adviser. Should this not be the same with our hearts? That we would take it to the wisest Adviser and ask Him where to put our hearts, that we would know how to spend it wisely for His glory. And in doing so, reap His joy, peace, and so much more.
Friends, I am preaching this to my own heart. It is so easy to reach for a distraction in hopes that it is a quick fix. This may be any vice: people, thoughts, possessions, alcohol, drugs, etc. There are so many things we run to instead of to the One that can truly heal, protect, guard, treasure, and care for our hearts. So, what would it look like if we took our hearts to Him, allowed Him to heal us, and trusted Him to protect, guard, treasure, and care for our hearts?
What if we prepared our hearts the way we prepare our faces?
What if we took care of our hearts the way we take care of a nice vehicle?
What if we treasured our hearts more than money?
"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." {Proverbs 4:23}
I want to keep this post extremely general as I am just as guilty of this as anyone else.
But, I had the privilege of being a part of a meeting last evening that really made me think about where my heart is, what I am doing with it, and how well I am guarding it.
I would like to parallel preparing, taking care of/guarding, and treasuring our hearts with putting on makeup, detailing a car, and investing financially. Bear with me.
I am not a super huge makeup girl, never have been, never will be. The reasons are not important. What is important is how this can relate to our hearts.
There are incredible skin care lines out there, I make no joke of makeup. There are endless lines to make us beautiful, have fewer wrinkles, enhance collagen, etc.
We have counters filled with moisturizer, toner, exfoliating mixtures, foundation, etc. We get up each morning and spend our time using a small amount from each container, carefully following our normal routine. Time may vary for each person; but, once finished, most times we walk away feeling "unblemished" and "beautiful".
What would it look like if we did this with our hearts?
This may look different for everyone, so I ask for grace; I merely write. But, imagine if our hearts were our faces. Imagine if we get up in the morning and gently wash and exfoliate it with a prayer to start our day. Then we would tone and moisturize our hearts by quieting ourselves to sit and read His Word for a moment. In doing this, we would find that our foundation was a part of quieting, we are firm in His truth. Imagine singing, our blush, mascara, eye-liner, etc., of sorts. (Once again, grace). I have no more to write on this, but let's simply imagine that this would happen every single morning.
Moving on to paralleling this with detailing a car.
Your heart is filled with junk. It's broken and dirty. Can you clean it all by yourself? No. But some days choosing to be at the foot of the Cross comes by you making it intentional.
So, your heart, it's filled with junk, it's broken and dirty. Sometimes spiritually we just want to take our hearts through a quick-fix car wash; but I wonder if sometimes that doesn't hurt us more than actually do us good. Imagine walking to your heart and seeing that it could use a good wash and wax on the outside and a good vacuuming and cleaning on the inside. What do you do? You grab your supplies and get to work. Once again, those prayers, those desperate ones that ache? They have such a wonderful ability to lay all our dirt at the foot of that rugged Cross. Taking our dirt there washes us clean. But, we can't just stop there. Pouring over the Word of God will clean out our deepest inside parts of our raw imperfectness. Knowing the His truth by heart protects are hearts just like that coat of wax that is put on a vehicle. What would it look like having our hearts clean and brought before Jesus on more than just a once-a-week detailing?
Investments. Ahhh, I am no pro at this; yet I imagine this can definitely be paralleled with our hearts as well.
Say you are blessed with an inheritance. The wise thing would be not to go spend it frivolously. You would find someone could advise you on how to invest it. You would discuss: stock options, bonds, IRAs, etc. You would educate yourself in this subject, discussing each decision with your adviser. Should this not be the same with our hearts? That we would take it to the wisest Adviser and ask Him where to put our hearts, that we would know how to spend it wisely for His glory. And in doing so, reap His joy, peace, and so much more.
Friends, I am preaching this to my own heart. It is so easy to reach for a distraction in hopes that it is a quick fix. This may be any vice: people, thoughts, possessions, alcohol, drugs, etc. There are so many things we run to instead of to the One that can truly heal, protect, guard, treasure, and care for our hearts. So, what would it look like if we took our hearts to Him, allowed Him to heal us, and trusted Him to protect, guard, treasure, and care for our hearts?
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