Keep Your Heart Off Your Sleeve
It was Shakespeare who first made mention of a person wearing his heart upon his sleeve. By this he meant that such a person is always getting his heart bruised. Or, as we say, getting his feelings hurt.
In poetry and in our Bible the heart is usually a symbol of our feelings. We speak, too, of people being brokenhearted, or downhearted. Some generous people are bighearted. The athlete who stays in the game when he knows all is lost has "heart."
To wear your heart on your sleeve is a dangerous practice. The girl who fails to get that invitation to the special party is brokenhearted over the slight thrown at her. Big brother rides in the front seat of the car or gets the biggest piece of pie, and little brother doesn't like it and he shows that he doesn't. Two persons try to get the same job, and the loser thinks the world is against him. Another person's idea is turned down, and so he refuses to help on the project at all.
Protect your heart. A bruised heart can make you bitter toward the world. It can make your outlook on life so discolored that you will think life is not worth the effort. It not only will make you dislike other people but will make you lose respect for yourself.
A follower of Christ keeps his heart in the right place. He is too busy doing things for other people to feel the many little hurts that fly back and forth between people all the time. The person who has Christ for his companion never needs to fear slights or feel jealous over other people.
"The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1.
