Proverbs 4:23

Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issue of life.

Another version says,

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

                                                         

The heart is a very precious organ that is responsible for supplying blood to other parts of the body, and a whole lot can go wrong when the heart suddenly decides to take a break or if something suddenly goes wrong with it, it can lead to paralysis or even death.

What does it mean to guard something?

To guard something means that the thing being guarded is very important and considered to be valuable.

It was in time past that people put their valuables especially money at home, but in today’s world, there are so many establishments that gives the promise of giving security to our money and other things we consider important when we decide to do business with them.

If we are told to guard our heart above everything, it shows that it must be as important or even more important than those things we take to the bank for safe-keeping.

Just like no one put materials that are considered valuable on display or at a place where people can easily access it or where it can easily be trampled upon or stolen, why then do people care less about their heart which is one of those things the bible tells us to guard?

The bible speaking says we should be careful of throwing our pearls to the pig, lest they trample upon it and they turn back and fight the owner. Your heart is that precious too or even more precious than the most expensive diamond.

Your heart is a very precious organ and just like you can’t deliberately watch a person coming with a knife pointed at your chest and just keep laughing especially if that person is a stranger and he has a deadly look in his eyes.

It is very important because the quality of life you live depends on the kind of thoughts you allow in your heart.

Life doesn’t just start from characters we exhibit per time. It stats from the heart (thoughts)

I learned an acronym a long time ago about how characters are formed.

T-A-H-C

T- Thoughts

A – Actions

H – Habits

C – Character

Character doesn’t just get developed, it all comes from the things we have allowed settled in our minds over time.

And it is the things we feed our heart with that will definitely begin to think about overtime.

So, Guard your heart.

How Then Do You Guard Your Heart?

1.      1   Watch The Songs  And Videos You Listen To

There are so many artists and movie producers  in our world today with them releasing an album or videos every other day, while they have the capacity of churning out content, you have the choice on the kind of songs and videos you listen to.

While you might not be able to control the kind of songs that others play, probably when you are on the bus, at work, in a public place, but you very well can control the kind of songs and videos on your phones and laptops. YouTube also does this, it recognizes the kind of person you are, after a while of using that platform, it begins to bring suggestions of YouTube mix for you based on the videos you have listened to overtime.

Songs and videos are so important, there are some you’ll listen to or watch them and you would literally feel like God is wrapping you in His hands, and there are others that you’ll listen to that leaves you with the feeling of grabbing the next girl or guy for a showdown or just taking your own life.

To guard your heart, watch the songs and films you consume.

 

2.      2    Be Careful Of The Books You Read

 

Books, Books, Books.

Recently, I shared my journey with reading romance novels, you can click here if you missed it.

Books are important, they grant you access into traveling to places, you have never been in the flesh.

And those places can be a good place or a bad place, depending on the book you are reading.

You can’t be on a mission to guard your heart against lustful thoughts and be a person of worth when you are constantly reading magazines and books that feed your mind on bedroom activities or just books that aren’t adding any significant value to your life.

So to guard your heart, be careful of the content you expose your heart to.

 

3.      3   Be Mindful Of The News You Listen To

In guarding your heart, the news you give yourself to hearing over time will go in no small way in affecting your heart and ultimately shape your mindset and ultimately your lifestyle.

There is certain news you should guard your heart against.

Know the kind of news that is capable of making you be in a bad place and deliberately begin to guard against them. For some, just coming online to read the news of what is going on all over the world is enough to make them lose the zeal they need to accomplish their tasks that day.

You are a young person who is looking forward to getting married, but the kind of news or statistics that you are fond of listening or following is that of how many wives have killed their husbands in the last five months or how many husbands have poured acid on the face of their wives in the last one year.

While it is a good thing to stay abreast of what is going on in the world at large, but there are certain news that you should keep your heart guarded against, especially when you know you aren’t so strong in that aspect.

Someone who grew up in an abusive home and has now given his life to Christ have no business watching those kinds of news, they’ll keep building doubt and fear in your heart which is the opposite of what is your reality in Christ.

Someone who keeps listening to this will soon start doubting if there are still good women around, a person like that will soon start looking at her husband as a man who isn’t just right.

Be careful of what you listen to, so they don’t become your reality.

Whose report will you choose to believe?

     

4.      4    Be Careful Of Your Association

There are certain people whose words have the ability of sending you towards depression.

There are some people who will just open their mouths and spew out words without giving thoughts on how those words of theirs will affect the person hearing it. if you have such a person around you, you might have to start minimizing the time you spend around such people until you are in a much better place where what they say or don’t say won’t affect you adversely.

There are certain people who in their presence, you’ll suddenly realize that you are getting sad as there are fond of saying demeaning words to you.

These are people you should be careful of, you don’t have to call such people every day, if there are your colleagues at work, you can decide to stay clear of them for a while until you are in a better place mentally and you are able to hear their words and then it no longer affects you.

And if these people are not those you can outrightly stay clear off, then when they are talking, mentally bring a shield up in your mind through which you can shield yourself against any hurt their words can cause.

All these are a great determinant of the kind of thoughts that will ultimately run through your heart.

Your heart is very important.

Don’t let anything mess up with it.

Remember, as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.