Guard Your Heart

In April of this year I had the privilege of playing in the Blount/Bowden Charity Golf Tournament in Destin, Florida. The tournament always concludes with a fund-raising dinner in the evening. Coach Bowden, as you would expect, was the keynote speaker. The event raises funds to send students to FSU on scholarships. Coach Bowden concluded his speech with words of wisdom for the scholarship recipients. He told the students that one of the most valuable lessons he had learned in life was the importance of guarding your heart. Then he quoted Proverbs 4:23 from the Bible. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” In all of his victories, defeats, successes and failures, Coach Bowden has had to work diligently in order to guard his heart.

I listened intently as Coach Bowden spoke and reflected on my application of this timeless truth. Since I became a Christian, I have experienced many relational disappointments in life.

I remember going through a difficult time of transition over seven years ago as Cindy and I took over senior pastor responsibilities of ENT. During this time our closest friends, and key leaders of the church, all moved to Atlanta. Also, other friends and fellow church members, decided to start another church in Tallahassee because they didn’t want to follow our leadership. Then, to add insult to injury, one of my closest friend’s told me as we sat in my driveway in his car after a late night Champions for Christ meeting, that he would be leaving the church to join the dissenters.

A few years back, I received the news that the man who married Cindy and I, and had a huge impact on our spiritual development, was in an adulterous affair with his secretary. The gentleman, who had inspired me to live holy and pure for God, had fallen from grace.

Every year, Cindy and I have people who we love leave our church for one reason or another. Every time this happens, there is an emotional tearing in our hearts because we care deeply about every person who has made a commitment to be a member of Every Nation Tallahassee.

The older you get, the more challenging it becomes to guard your heart. The more you deal with people, the more challenging it becomes to love them unconditionally. The more you lead others, the more opportunity you have to disappoint them by not meeting all their expectations.

One of the hardest things to deal with in life is the discouragement that comes at the hands of people. I have always said that ministry would be a cakewalk if my church was located on a deserted island. I am confident that you can identify with what I am writing about in regard to our relationships with people. We all have been let down and disappointed by people.

The issue is not will we have disappointments in life; the issue is how we deal with these letdowns that ultimately come. It’s been said, “The trouble with life is that it’s so daily.”

A good friend asked me the other day the question, "How are you doing?" I told him that I was doing better than ever. Please allow me to explain why I gave him this answer.

Eight is the biblical number for new beginnings. I told my congregation in January that 2008 was going to be a year of new beginnings for all who would open their hearts to what God wanted to do in them. I am excited to write that after all my hurts, letdowns and disappointments in life, I am still willing to open my heart to people and try my best to love them. As I have learned to guard my heart over the years, God is rewarding me by filling it with a greater increase of Christ and his love.

How do I know? I know because I am still willing to love.

Apostle Paul's prayer for the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 4:16-19 says, “16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Guarding our heart is the only way we can live in the love of Christ, and as a result, care about what He cares about. God, more than anything else, cares about people.

Yes—even the ones who bug you, hurt you, disappoint you and let you down.