Guard Your Heart
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23
I don’t think we realize just how important it is to guard our hearts. I believe it is so important to understand this at as young an age as possible. Guarding our hearts protects us from heartache, regret, and future trust problems.
How do we guard our hearts?
One of the surest ways to guard our hearts is to not give it away until we’re married.
Our hearts need to be saved for our future husband or wife. This includes:
- our secrets
- our affections
- our fears
- our total trust
- our insecurities
- our intimacy, all aspects
Why do we guard our hearts?
Guarding our hearts protects us and saves the most intimate parts of ourselves for our future spouse. When we give personal pieces of ourselves out to someone we like, or even believe we love, and down the road it doesn’t work out, they take that piece of us with them. They will always have it; something that should have been saved only for our future spouse. When we date several people, we give out our heart again and again, believing they are safe each time. But unfortunately, 99% of the time this just isn’t so, since we will only marry one person out of all the people we date.
I am not talking only about physical intimacy. Obviously this is a very important part of guarding our hearts and keeping ourselves pure before God and our future spouse. Guarding our hearts is much more than physical intimacy alone. Our very conversations with other people need to be guarded and kept pure, whether we believe we are going to be with that person or not. Nothing is final until we’re married.
What consequences might we face when we fail to guard our hearts?
This can go very deep. It depends on how much we give and how many times we give it. In a marriage, this can cause trust issues, insecurities, loss of “spark”, depression, regret, and other unforeseen things. The more we give to others, the more we take away from our future spouse.
We take something important and sacred away from that one we’re going to marry by giving it to someone else. Keep in mind, we’re not just talking about physical intimacy here. Marriage is supposed to be the place to share yourself with the one we share our life with. Who wants to think of their spouse being with someone else from the past, and at one time sharing with this someone “else” things that only you should know?
Take steps now to ensure a secure and blissful marriage later. Guard your heart. Do not just let everyone in; and don’t send out it with everyone either. You run the risk of allowing that person important pieces of yourself if they leave. Guarding your heart also helps to resist the temptation of falling into the trap of physical intimacy before marriage. Your heart is sacred. Don’t underestimate that.
Final Thought
In addition to waiting to give your heart out to your future spouse, be careful and mindful who and what you’re allowing in.
Christin can be found at Journey to a Gracious Woman
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Well-written and very thoughtful. A good article that I agree with wholeheartedly (no pun intended).
Excellent and so true! Thank you.
What great post, thanks! This is a very important subject!
Very true…I learned that the hard way. We need to be extra careful in the ‘innocent’ small-talk conversations the most. Some people out there will act as if they care and get you to share something that you shouldn’t and then you will deeply regret it later.
I can also say that guarding your heart does not guarantee of not getting hurt.
Definitely. Even those that go to a great extent to take care not to get hurt can still get hurt. Hopefully it lowers the risk.
Very good article! I would say though that, when you’re in a relationship with someone you can’t exactly guard all of your affections, secrets, fears, total trust, etc. and ALL intimacy although physical intimacy of course should be saved for marriage. Overall I enjoyed this though. :)
#Feb2011NCARating