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Armies of Your Heart


Cause I want to be with you
but I need a place to start
I'm surrounded and captured
by the armies of your heart
I’m in such an odd place. Again.



I read two articles yesterday about Guarding Your Heart. I really liked them. I shared them on my social media sites. Now I think I need to add my thoughts to the authors’ thinking to avoid confusion of my personal views.

They said don’t guard your heart. They said love people without bounds. They said you will get hurt. They said it is so worth it. They said it’s what Jesus did.

I agree.

However.

People are stupid.

Love is so ultimately important because God is love. We have been commanded to love others whether we want to or not. These authors don’t want people to fear loving, because God doesn’t. He loves without bounds. He does get hurt. He says it’s worth it.

We’re to live in love. I will never disagree with that. My concern comes with the type of love.

Romantic love is not the same as friend/family love. We’re not supposed to love excessively in the romantic sense. We are to love our spouse that way. Most people do love more than one person in the romantic sense and that isn’t error – be honest with people. But be careful.

Solomon warns the Daughters of Jerusalem to “not awaken love until it so desires.” Build that love. Don’t start with it. It’s okay to love who you’re dating. I’m not saying you have to wait until marriage to feel real love or even to say “I love you.” But don’t start at romantic love.

In Song of Solomon, the couple has a tender love. They treat each other with respect – usually – and care. There are many references to themselves as brother and sister. Not in an incestuous way. In a caring, always there for you love.

The kind of love we’re to have for everyone.

The love of Christ.

That love, coupled with their romantic passionate love, is what makes their marriage wonderful. What makes it godly.

But that doesn’t mean we open up that possibility to everyone.

People are stupid.

Not every deserves your romantic love.

You have been commanded to love everyone. Regardless of your feelings. God gives us love – He gave us Christ. If He can love us, we have no excuse to not love others.

It is not good for man* to be alone.

It is not good for man to be foolish.

But we so often are.

There is a good kind of pain from love. the learning kind. One author talks about the “fingerprints” people will leave on your heart when you let them hold it. I love that picture. She also makes the point that we don’t let people hold onto our hearts forever. God holds our hearts. We have given them to Him.

He is the only one with the power to redeem us, to crush us.

Do not fear the marks of man.

But do not let men have undo access to what you have given unto God.

~ A good sermon I recently listened to on what is really loving: Revenge and Love by Matt Chandler


*Man in the generic humankind sense. Ladies, be comfortable, feel safe under the protection of that title. It’s how we were designed to be.

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