Tuesday, January 21, 2014

How to Guard Your Heart

The doorbell rang and two young men presented an opportunity for shoveling the snow from my front walk and driveway. I declined, knowing more snow was coming and it's good exercise to boot. Then one of them said: "By the way, sir, your keys are in the door."

O My Goodness!

I quickly realized they'd been there all night, since taking our dog, Scamp, for a walk in the warmer 40 degree sunshine on the previous day. I had unlocked the door, let the dog in and proceeded to take in some packages left at the front door. I closed the door, locked it and left the keys hanging in the lock outside.

I'm a bit mortified and disappointed in myself that I put my family at some risk. I left the keys to our house available for someone else to use in gaining access.

It got me thinking about the ways we leave our hearts vulnerable, giving the keys to our soul to those who would endanger our relationship with Jesus.

1. Not taking sin seriously. Pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, lust & gluttony are the 7 deadly sins. These are the most frequently identifiable pathways to destruction. When we refuse to deal with sin in our lives, we are leaving the keys to our hearts available to the Enemy. No matter how much we learn about the Lord, as long as this pathway is available, our growth will be short-circuited.

I remember someone saying to me: "You can't get away with sin. You might think you are for a moment, but in the end there will be a price to pay."

When I wink at sin I will eventually suffer. It's one reason I've instituted some guardrails in my life, especially around relationships with persons of the female gender.

2. Not learning from criticism. In a recent Executive Coaching survey produced by Sherpa Coaching, the term "self-awareness" saw the greatest increase in response to a question about the benefits of coaching.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. 
Who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17:9

Our hearts have a unique ability to give us a false reflection of ourselves. There is no way I can hope to uncover all of my short-comings and weaknesses. When I refuse to listen to and learn from criticism, I am handing over the keys to my heart, allowing deception to reside where clarity and wisdom are needed.

Closing myself off because the criticism is not legitimate or delivered with anger and spite, is just another way I leave the keys in the door.

3. Not serving the poor. When I only spend time with people like me I get a false impression of who I am. When I spend time serving the poor I find myself more vulnerable and open to growth through the exposure of chinks in my armor.

Refusing to spend time serving the poor leads directly to pride. It also cuts me off from the heart of the Gospel. The heart of God is with the poor and I theorize that getting close to the poor means getting closer to the heart of God. I hand over the keys to my heart when I close it off to the poor that God calls me to serve.

4. Not embracing my uniqueness. When I begin to compare myself to others I begin to walk away from guarding the door of my heart. When I look at the material lives of others, the size church of other pastors or for me how fast someone is swimming in the pool (always being sure to figure in the age algorithm!), it is then that I can walk away, off the path and leave my life more open to attack.

God created me uniquely, different from anyone else - and thank goodness for that! Just as I have a fingerprint that is like no one else's, so the impact of my life is different from anyone else's. God does not want to know how well I imitated someone else but how well I used the gifts He gave to me.

I could not believe I left those keys in the door. Since moving into our new home 7 months ago, I've talked with my wife about safety with our walkout lower level. Guarding relationships has always been a primary theme for me as a husband, parent and pastor.

How do you guard your heart?

Where have you left the keys in the lock?









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