Protect your heart
Proverbs 4:23 says,
"Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. "
One thing I am learning to do is to guard what comes from my heart. The heart is innermost place inside where I truly live. God's wisdom says to guard it like a prison-guard, to protect it as my most precious possession like gold at Fort Knox. I can choose to keep my heart on guard.
Matthew Henry, a man long ago who commented on this verse shares this, "Attentive hearing the word of God, is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart, and a good means of carrying it on. There is in the word of God a proper remedy for all diseases of the soul. Keep thy heart with all diligence. We must set a strict guard upon our souls; keep our hearts from doing hurt, and getting hurt. A good reason is given; because out of it are the issues of life. "
His words--"keep your heart from doing hurt, and getting hurt"--is a difficult task to complete. Too often I cannot keep myself from getting hurt and seeking to returning hurt for hurt. I praise God that I am learning how to keep a strict guard on my inner self. I want God's heart where I can love and receive love as God intended. It is possible. Seek God to find deep love. May God help you find deep love in Him.
Pastor D