Guarding the Tender Heart

For the last 11 years I’ve worked in a profession where being referred to as soft isn’t going to buy much face time or respect with colleagues and it certainly will guarantee unsuccessful interviews or interrogations. In fact, being soft can, and usually does, lead to things getting personal and out of hand. Strong or firm is best; every successful interview calls for a measure of tenderness, but it is important to be on guard in order to remain effective and in control.

A soft-hearted person is one who yields readily to pressure. A tender-hearted person can be strong and firm while being compassionate at the same time.

I was once a person with a soft heart; it was vulnerable and it was hurt many times. So, I did what was seemed natural - I closed my heart. It became hard, really hard. As persistent as someone might be, there was no access – the walls were up permanently. There was no flow in or out of my heart.

Surrendering my heart to Jesus was a difficult process because I didn’t know Him. During my transformation, as I came to know Him, He began to reveal to me what He meant about guarding the heart.

Guarding is about defending, or shielding, the heart from harm or attack. It’s not about cutting off the flow of blood. Just as cutting off the flow of blood to the heart in the natural results in death, cutting of the flow of God’s life giving love to the heart in the supernatural also ends in death.

“My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life,” Proverbs 4:20-23.