Guard Your Heart
“Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life.”
Proverbs 4:23
Guard from What
“[Keeping / Guarding] your heart” means staying faithful to God and his word, and eliminating any bad habits and influences that would lead you away from God.
“[Keeping / Guarding] your heart” does not mean avoiding emotional pain, putting up walls or creating distance between yourself and others, or hardening your heart.
In fact, Jesus has called us to boldly and sacrificially love others — even our enemies and those who mistreat us.
“But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:39–41,43–45
We are not called to protect ourselves from others, but to love them. We are only to guard our hearts against anything which would tend to separate us from God’s will and presence in our lives.
Guard How?
With vigilance we are to guard our hearts! We are not to be lazy or reactive. Rather, we ought to proactively and carefully keep watch for any suspect attachments or habits that might pull us away from our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Less lifeguard on the beach; more Swiss Guard at the Vatican.
So, practically speaking, what can we do to guard our hearts? Three things come immediately to mind:
- Daily prayer. If you can make prayer a daily habit, great! If you can pray at several scheduled times, each day, that’s even better!
- Regular Confession. If you can participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation each week (whether or not you have committed any mortal sins), you will receive additional graces for the protection of your heart against sin.
- The Holy Eucharist. Receiving the Eucharist in a state of grace not only cleanses denial sin but wards one against sin, filling them with the presence and power of Jesus Christ.
Those who say things like, “I don’t have a religion; I have a relationship,” don’t realize that the relationship with each of us that Jesus has ordained through the Church He founded on St. Peter is a relationship arising in and centered around religious devotion.
While God is our Father, Jesus is our Brother, etc. — that’s all true — God is still God! The Almighty Creator of the Universe demands and deserves our worship and reverence. He’s not our Buddy. He’s our Sovereign and Savior.
Therefore, if we want to protect our hearts against anything that would come between us and Him, we must meet Him on His terms, not ours. We must purify our hearts through prayer and the sacraments, participate in the Mass, and commune with Christ through the Eucharist.
In this way we not only guard our hearts but we obtain God’s much stronger protection than any other protection we could muster alone.
© 2021 Noel Bagwell. All Right Reserved.
