When you don't guard your heart...

I've been thinking about this ALOT the past couple weeks. I guess maybe because I've seen so many of my close friends fall away from God because of relationships that were not in the will of God. Even when I look at my own life, I realized if I had done one simple thing, i could have avoided alot of serious mistakes and heart break. I was talking a friends mom about this on a long trip. Sometimes I really feel that I've come so close to turning away. And I know that if I had only guarded my heart and mind from the start that I wouldn't have come that close to turning away from Christ. Its more serious than alot of Christian teenagers think it is. Sometimes when I look at my close friends now, I really am afraid that they don't realize the importance of guarding their heart and their emotions. Satan can do so much with your emotions when they are stirred up at inappropriate times. Its so innocent, so tiny. Maybe its a crush. Maybe its this one christian guy you've been talking to online who is cool. Maybe its your Christian brother who you've know since you were 3 feet tall. Don't get me wrong, I don't think its a sin to have a crush. But so many people don't realize that when they feed it, its going to grow! When you put your heart in the place of growing in affection towards the opposite gender, when you know God is calling you to be single for a period if time, for a season, you've started to make a serious mistake. How can someone have undistracted devotion to the Lord when half of the time, they are making sure they can sit next to, talk to, have serious one on one eye contact with a person of the opposite sex? How can one be undistracted to the Lord when they make it a point to be online every single night at a certain time so they can "encourage" and talk to a Christian brother who is struggling. I don't know.. Some people might say, so what? But I know from experience thats a recipe for disaster. I think I've seen this so many times with my Christian friends. Its a crush, its not sin, we're not dating, we're not in immorality. Maybe you aren't "dating" and maybe you aren't in sin... yet... But you are DISTRACTED. But I can wait for her/him. But how can someone know that God's will won't lead one another in different directions?

I see tons of people with romantic feelings towards their brother or sister in the Lord and so rarely do I see them take these feelings before the Lord. How many times do we let our minds wander, and our heart care a little more romantically for a certain individual without first consulting with Christ? Is He not the one who owns our heart? Is He not the one who gives us wisdom and guidance on heart matters? And even more so, if we're supposed to be single, why have we voluntarily reserved our heart for a certain individual, without having God confirm that they are, indeed, going to be the one they spend the rest of their life with?

This is what drives me nuts. If someone has their heart reserved for a certain individual, how does that leave God having any say in the matter? It doesn't. What if God wants your heart elsewhere? That means either you are in for some serious heartache or you would rather have what your heart has been craving than what the Lord wants for your life.

I guess to sum up this blog, because its getting long... Make no reservations! Guard your heart diligently! Take everything before the Lord! Pray! And be undistractedly devoted to Christ until He tells you its time for a relationship. I've learned this all the hard way, but I hope this has somehow, in some way, encouraged someone.