Guarding our hearts is very important because every action, choice, and decision comes from our heart's motives.
Guarding our hearts is important for every day of the year; however, we should take extra care to guard our hearts during Valentine’s Day. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Guarding our hearts is very important because every action, choice, and decision comes from our heart's motives. Here are six ways to guard your heart this Valentine’s season:
1. Pray
The number one thing you can do to guard your heart this Valentine’s is to pray. Praying to God is the best thing you can do to guard your heart not only on Valentine’s but on every day of the year. Paul challenges us to “pray continually” in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If we are intentional in our prayer life, we will access to the Holy Spirit's discernment. Whenever we are tempted to do something wrong, we need to pray to God. Whenever we have sinful feelings, we need to pray to God. Whenever we are feeling tempted, we need to pray to God. Long story short, the best thing we can do is pray to God to protect our hearts.
There will be many temptations to try to stir you after sin, especially during Valentine's season. It's a time when the enemy tries to convince you that love looks like giving yourself away before you're married, love looks like staying in an abusive, unhealthy relationship, love looks like going along with whatever will please the other person, etc. However, you can resist the urge to follow sin's lies by praying to God. Praying will give you a chance to talk things over with God and ask Him for His help. It delights God to help His children, and He will certainly help you guard your heart against the enemy.
2. Memorize Bible Verses
A second great way to guard your heart this Valentine’s is to memorize Bible verses. If you memorize Bible verses, they will be in the front and foremost parts of your mind when a tempting situation arises. Some great verses to memorize to guard your heart include Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 7:25, and Philippians 4:6-7. Each of these passages reminds us to guard our hearts and turn to God in prayer. By memorizing Bible verses and passages, we will be able to guard our hearts and minds against the lies of the devil. Satan is always trying to trip us up, cause us to fall into sin, and make us question God’s goodness. If we memorize Bible verses, we will be able to bring them to mind when Satan tries to attack us. Bible verses are important to memorize because they are the very words of God. Memorizing these key truths of the Word of God will help us reflect on God and guard our hearts against Satan.
Perhaps you remember things best when you write them down. Grab a few notecards and start writing! Tape these truths on your bathroom mirror, on your work desk, by the coffee pot, anywhere that you visit often. Maybe you remember things best when you listen. Create songs to cheer on your memorization. Pick fun rhythms and rhymes to kickstart the process. Use your skills, creativity, and best learning strategies to activate God's Word in your life.
3. Have Accountability
Accountability is a third step you can take to guard your heart this Valentine’s Day. Ask someone who is close to you, such as a sibling, a parent, or a friend to hold you accountable. Have this person check in on a regular basis to make sure you are taking the proper steps to protect your heart. Give them the liberty to ask if you have done anything that week to compromise your heart.
I suggest an accountability partner who lives close to you, a person who can be active on your journey to guarding your heart. Your accountability partner can go with you to stores to ensure that you don’t purchase any movies, shows, or music that might jeopardize your heart. Likewise, they can accompany you to a new Bible study or church curriculum that focuses on an area where you have a hard time honoring your heart. Your accountability partner needs to be somebody you can trust and, most importantly, someone who is a mature Christian. Christians are called to look out for one another and help each other grow in their walk with the Lord.
4. Be Honest with Yourself
A fourth crucial way to guard your heart this Valentine’s Day is to be honest with yourself. This can be hard, but it is needed. The Bible challenges us to examine ourselves and to test ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we are honest with ourselves, we will be less likely to fall victim to sin and compromise our hearts. If we know a certain movie, TV show, or song will cause us to jeopardize our hearts, we need to avoid these things.
In the same way, if being around certain people causes us to feel envious, bitter, sexually aroused, anything that feeds our sinful nature, we need to avoid those people and those circumstances. It is vitally important to sit down with ourselves and truly identify the things that tempt us and then make the intentional decision to avoid these things and take these struggles to God in prayer. Once we are honest with ourselves, we will be better equipped to fight off these bad actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Therefore, be honest with yourself and you will be able to protect your heart from sin and temptation.
5. Resist Temptation
The fifth way to guard your heart this Valentine’s is to resist temptation. Whenever you find yourself in a tempting situation, turn to the Lord and flee from whatever is causing your tempting thought. God is able to help us resist temptation if we turn to Him. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Whatever causes you to fall into temptation can be overcome by the power of God. The Holy Spirit can help us overcome temptation if we confess the urge and choose to follow God rather than our sinful nature. Resisting temptation is hard, but God can help us if we turn to Him and ask Him for His help.
Resisting temptation this Valentine's Day can look a lot like respectfully declining a date with someone you know isn't a mature, healthy believer in Christ. It can look like skipping that Galentine's Day party if you know it will be nothing but booze and boys. This doesn't mean you can't enjoy the holiday. Watch healthy rom-coms, make heart-shaped cookies with friends, go on a nice dinner date with the man who has respectfully pursued you. Guarding your heart doesn't always mean you have to surrender a life of fun and adventure; it simply means in the process of honoring God and guarding your heart, you wake up on February 15th still able to respect yourself.
6. Use Your Time Wisely
A sixth way to guard your heart this upcoming Valentine’s Day is to use your time wisely. This may sound like an odd way to guard your heart, but hear me out. If we use our time wisely, we will be less likely to turn to the things that cause us to sin. Rather than using the time to scroll through social media and compare your relationship with everyone else's or mindlessly watch inappropriate romance films, we should invest our time wisely.
Investing our time wisely this Valentine's season looks like spending honoring God by crafting Valentine's Day cards for military soldiers overseas, elderly men and women in your local nursing home, or teachers or small group leaders who have made an immense impact on your life. Guarding your heart for Valentine's Day could also look like hosting a few couples over at your home, everyone cooking dinner together and enjoying an honorable double-date night of fellowship. The possibilities are endless! What matters is that you're using your time and energy wisely. Instead of using your time for things that could cause you to compromise your heart, you are choosing to do things to bring glory to God.
Guarding Your Heart
Guarding your heart is crucial year-round. It can be difficult to guard your heart on Valentine's Day, but perhaps these six steps have provided the necessary tools. The world will try to jeopardize our hearts with a myriad of lies, lusts, and infatuations; however, it is up to us to guard our hearts. As Christians, we need to take our stand and guard our hearts, not only on Valentine’s but also on every day of the year.
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