The scriptures remind us to diligently guard our hearts, and the Bible helps us see why it is so critical to do so. In Genesis 6:5, the scriptures record that "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." This wickedness continues today, and with all these maladies, it is no wonder the Word exhorts us to guard our hearts!

In The Heart: His Words + My Thoughts, author and minister Tanya Swygert reflects on the important reminder in Proverbs to guard our hearts, and she offers sixteen thought-provoking devotionals about the heart. Sharing her heartfelt messages in a conversational, down-to-earth way, Tanya hopes fellow believers will be inspired to examine their own hearts according to God's words. Whether it is protecting our hearts from evil and pain or opening up and softening our hearts to love, repair, and joy, God has provided in his Word a way for us to master the task.

If our hearts are obstinate, pained, proud, fearful, rebellious, foolish, or blind, we can by God's grace and mercy learn how to instead guard them and have hearts that are clean, fixed, and pure. We can also have the assurance that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith, helping us know that the course of life we take will be pleasing in God's sight.