Where True Love Resides

Proverbs 4:23

Throughout my whole life my mom and dad have always said “guard your heart!” in reference to some boy I liked, or some risk I was about to take that could lead toward heartache. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve realized the significance of these words and this verse mean so much more than just a quick check of myself to make sure I don’t fall for a guy too hard, or get all sad about losing. No, this is about so much more.

As a Christian, your heart literally is where God lives and resides, therefore it can become the strongest source of guidance in anyone’s life once they’ve accepted Him in. Whenever I doubt the way I’m thinking, I still know which way to discern and conclude any thought; by looking into my heart I can find the answer. Your heart will NEVER lie to you. Which I think is pretty cool, seeing as that’s where God resides as well… the one who will never throw you under the bus, or give you some sort of false information just to laugh in your face as you fall. God wants to help. And He will never steer you wrong in the course of your life. He has it planned and mapped out perfectly. Therefore, looking to Him in your heart can do so much. It can give you every answer you will possibly ever need. And that is why you need to guard it… Without your guard up, you can be easily hurt. Evil can try and make its way in. And that’s exactly where it wants to make its home as well. Because evil may be able to just begin and form thoughts in the mind, but once it’s in your heart telling you lies about yourself or whatever is going on in your life, it’s hard to ever go back to the way things were before.

Just use “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss for example. He let those hurtful words that everyone said get to him, and it made him cold and mean as he grew up, which allowed for even more anger to flow in and for him to become a different person than the sweet kid he used to be before. By the time he was an adult, his heart was ice-cold. And in the story, it was even included that his heart was 2 sizes too small… All because he truly started to believe all of those lies and hurtful words the other children and townspeople said about him. But by the end, someone showed him love. True and sweet love. He became warmer, and his heart grew back even larger. All he needed was that source of love.

For us Christ followers, that source is God. And we have to protect the place where He has made a home in us with everything we have. We have to believe HIS truth about ourselves, and not let the negativity and lies everyone else says about us into our hearts. I love this verse.. it’s such a great reminder of something that can truly affect you every day.