guarding my own heart?

While guarding one’s heart is probably not in the Bible as dating advice, I sometimes wonder: why, even though some do read it as dating advice, they leave it as just that—advice—and then act how they would like anyways, sometimes following their “heart.” It is something that I was forced to think about a lot over break. God wrestled with my bowels and liver and set my heart on a new path.

[Just using *correct* O.T. metaphorical language: bowels/liver/soul = seat of emotion (similar to modern term ‘heart’); heart = center of one’s conscious being (similar to modern term ‘mind’).

Yes, that does mean that we often misread this passage! However, while language difference (in metaphors) may be the culprit behind the misappropriation of that classic Hebrew proverb (4:23), hence distorting the actual meaning, etc., this point is only foundational to my thought.

If my heart is being guarded, I wouldn’t want to trust myself with the task. Seriously, if I would sell my birthright for the right pot of stew, then who knows what I would do with my heart (entire person) if my heart (animal-like, love instinct) told me to! If guarding means merely doing less of something (i.e. less alone time, less physical contact, less thinking about someone), then, firstly, I’ve got that nailed on the head and should have nothing to worry about—with my zero real girlfriends I’ve had; and secondly, with no estimable timeframe placed on this command to guard your own heart, I may be doomed to girl-less peril for eternity. Is it actually possible/wise to guard your heart as we may commonly define it?

I’ll answer that one next time.

a new perspective

I guess I wonder why I didn't realize this before: "guarding your heart" isn't really dating advice. It isn't placed in the Bible in order to help a person find "the one." No, that's silly! It's about something much more than that, and actually, so is dating/marriage/whatever.

A pure heart is not something that you keep only until your marriage day to "give to your wife." Virginity and a pure heart are very different things. Virginity is the word used to describe the status of one who has never had sex. Sex (in its proper context) does not corrupt a pure heart in the way that it corrupts one's virgin status!

One gives his/her virginity to his/her spouse; however, a pure heart is something one reserves as Corban (a gift) to God. A pure heart has to do with one's righteousness and character and I tend to see as a lot more important than one's virgin status.

The call to guard your heart is a call to protect your entire person. Intimacy is not the only pollution nor the only possible corruption to one's person. Egoism can corrupt. Materialism can corrupt. Hedonism can corrupt. Excessive anger can, too. You get my point; any sin can corrupt one's heart. (This is because one's heart is not the center of emotion so much as it is the center of a person.) What's a sin? Anything action may or may not be a sin, so let's not get caught up in definitions! There is no dating rule book, outside of the Bible and your personal relationship with God--and those should already be your directing beacons.

Can't believe it took so long for that to click.