Are we guarding our hearts? Part One

[Thought starter:]

The Heart is a very special place. It is the organ that keeps our blood flowing which keeps us alive. It is also where all things about us come from.
It is no surprise that God told us to "guard it" (Prov. 4:23) and that what we do comes from our heart (Matt. 15:18-20).
However, I have to ask...have we considered these things? Have we considered our heart? Have we made it a point to be guarding it "above all else"?

I grieve for this generation, okay, all generations. Since Adam and Eve we have struggled with the very thing that created us, love. But of course the love of "infatuation" is not the same love God had when He, with His own hands, created us. In comparison to God's love, infatuation love doesn't seem like love at all. We say we experience "love" to such an extreme, to the point of not being able to control ourselves. Yet, we "fall out of it". This puzzles me. Extremely.
Where would humans, the world, the whole universe be if God just "fell out of love". WE WOULD BE DEAD! (God, thank you that Your ways are so much higher than ours!)

This infatuation "love" is intense, I'll give it that. But it isn't really love. It's like a wolf in sheep's clothing (John 10:1-18)...it looks cute and soft and even says "baaaa" like a good little sheep...but THAT AIN'T NO SHEEP...it's a wolf. Definitely, a wolf. A teeth gnashing, drool hanging from it's mouth, unkept fur (you get the picture) wolf. Sadly, you may not know it is until you find your sheep slaughtered with blood on their once soft, puffy white wool (oh, beautiful wool). So who is this wolf?? It's name is lust. Now, don't get all offended like "I am not in lust. You just don't understand. You've never been in love like this!". Oh, I've heard it all. The thing is, I do understand. See you don't have to own the sheep to know who killed them...you can watch from a distance. Or even catch him before he attempts to pounce. Oh yes, I've been there. In and out of "love"...feeling like my heart had been slaughtered as I grieved over the wool, I mean, sheep. :)

I know what he looks like. And boy, does he know how to play a good sheep! luckily, I have better security now...I thoroughly investigate every sheep that comes in my pasture. I've also recruited some help to make the security even more...well, secure ;)

So what does this all mean in guarding your heart??

I'll give that question to you, to think about...

What does this all mean in YOU guarding YOUR own heart?

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[Facts:]

Meanings from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/:
Guard: To watch over or shield, to keep watch over, to control, to take precautions, to control entrance and exit, to provide a device to protect the operator.

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[Application:]

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a(NKJV)
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

If love "never fails" and it "endures all things" then, is the "love" that so many people, couples and marriages "fall out of" really love?

Are we being fooled by the wolf? Are we not checking our sheep?

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[Teaser for Part Two:]

Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants to have romance and excitement.

But what if God wants those things for us too??

What if He set up the perfect time for us to have our romance??

The perfect time that would make it 100 times better than any other time.

The perfect time that you can't have any other time.

What if you wait for that perfect time??

What if that perfect time will grow even better the more you "suffer long", "not seek your own" and "endure all things"??

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the does of the field: Do not awaken love until it desires" Song of Solomon 3:5

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[Conclusion:]

Until my next post...ask God "In what ways can I better guard my heart? How do I inspect my sheep?"