Do you ever wonder why you feel or act a certain way? Why some things become so personal when they were never meant to be? Ever find yourself feeling hurt over someone else’s words?
I’ve been thinking about this lately, and realized how often I want the approval of other people, and sometimes I seek it in their affirming words. My heart betrays me, and I put more importance on the acceptance of other people than I do on pleasing God. Ever been there?
When we put too much importance on what others think of us than on what God thinks of us, Jesus loses His first place in our lives.
In Revelation, Jesus spoke to one of the seven churches and accused them of having “lost their first love.” They had not guarded their hearts and had allowed the world to seep into their motives, their thinking, and perhaps even their core beliefs. They had fallen in love with Jesus when they first believed. He mattered more to them then than anyone or anything else.
He had set them free from the fear of death, of judgment, of alienation from God. He had given them the promise of eternal life. Just as He has for all of us who believe in His Name.
But do we love Him still?
Or have our lives become filled with things that have crowded Him out?
I love my family a lot. You too? But sometimes God has had to speak to me about not putting my love for even them above my love for Him.
Whether I’m going to be joyful or sad, compassionate or angry, caring or callous comes down to how I guard my heart. Am I still in love with Jesus as I once was? Do I seek Him first, love Him first—above everything else in life?
Or have I become like the enemies of the psalmist whom he described as, “They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.”
Do we ever close our hearts to God’s love for us? To His truth?
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Callous hearts grow closed and their words are arrogant. Do I ever struggle with arrogance? I would be lying if I said no. I think we all face this type of pride now and then.
But in another Psalm talking about God’s words, we are told, “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”
When we are walking in the truth of the precepts of the Lord, He gives joy to our hearts. Big difference from being callous.
Perhaps this is why we are told to guard our hearts. Why Jesus was so concerned with the church losing their first love. Love, after all, comes from the heart of each one of us.
When we lose sight of the basic need to guard ourselves against all manner of pride, arrogance, bitterness, envy, strife, discord, jealousy, malice, and everything else that puts a wedge between us and God, our hearts are no longer safe from being taken captive by the wrong kind of thinking.
But when our hearts are safely in love with Jesus, above all others, even those we hold most dear, we have love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We have kept our first love. And we love others, even those we hold most dear, better in the process.
#livegrace #heartofthematter #guardyourheart #jesusourfirstlove
