Above all else, guard your heart

After always being told to follow our hearts as children, the irony is that in adulthood we realize our hearts are not always as trustworthy as we once believed.

Many of us learn the hard way about the importance of guarding our hearts after opening them to people who did not manage them well. And often, instead of properly guarding our hearts, we end up imprisoning ourselves behind barricades and walls.

But this is not how God created us to live.

A guard is someone who watches over, protects, and controls access.

In Proverbs 4:23, when King Solomon advises us to guard our hearts, I believe he was not suggesting that we do it alone. We are often biased by our own desires, so it does not make sense for us to be the sole protectors of our hearts.

Just as a king does not usually guard his own treasure, but instead has guards or an army to protect his castle, we also need help guarding our most prized possession: our hearts.

Boundaries help determine who is allowed to enter our lives and who is not. But when those boundaries are not properly enforced, it can lead to unwanted intrusions and emotional turmoil.

Let’s consider an example of what it looks like when boundaries are not enforced.

Imagine a neighbor who never waters their lawn. Yet, whenever you turn on your sprinkler system, the water spills over into their yard. Your grass is turning brown and dying, but your neighbor looks at their luscious green grass and believes their yard is thriving. They have not put any effort into maintaining their lawn, but it looks beautiful because your water is nourishing it.

If there were proper property boundaries, you would adjust the sprinkler system so the water would fall only on your lawn. If the neighbor did not water theirs, their grass would eventually wither, and perhaps they would finally take action to care for it.

Now, when we apply this boundary situation to our hearts, we face a more complex challenge.

We cannot physically place a fence around our hearts to keep ungrateful neighbors out.

So, if we are not fully capable of protecting our hearts on our own, who is?

King Solomon’s advice to guard our hearts was part of a greater instruction.

We must ask God to be the protector of our hearts because He knows what we do not know and sees what we cannot see. We are not meant to guard our hearts on our own. We have been designed to ask God for help in guarding them. But because we may not always know how to do this, many of us end up becoming our own prison wardens, refusing to let anyone in at all.

Think about it: God created every person in the world. He knows them best. So who better to ask for help than our Creator?

When you let Him guard your heart, it can look like discernment, emotional boundaries, and testing the fruits of the Spirit. He allows you to sense people’s character. He gives you the wisdom to know who to open your heart to and how much to open it.

This natural process happens when we release control and give it to Him.

So, the next time you are contemplating letting someone into your life—whether in a relationship, friendship, ministry opportunity, or business opportunity—ask God to give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a spirit of discernment to perceive their true character.

This wisdom is not ours alone. It is God’s gift to help us know whether to let someone in or keep them at a distance.

Trust God to take care of your heart. Let Him in, and let Him become your guard.

I hope this message blesses and encourages you.

Feel free to share with a friend.

-Preethi