Seele contributor Hazzy Redgard explains how when she shifted from a life of drugs and promiscuity, to a life of aligning with Godly values her life became life

Follow your heart. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Bless your heart. We have a lot of sayings about the heart. The heart is a fragile and emotional thing. We love with all our hearts and we hate with all our hearts. Our hearts can be filled and they can be broken. The Bible says that everything we do flows from our heart (Proverbs 4:23). How do evaluate the condition of our heart and how do we keep it whole and not broken?

Jesus says that the things that defile us come from our hearts. Jesus puts evil thoughts in the same category as murder. What is an evil thought you may ask? Lustful thoughts. Thoughts of envy. Thoughts of hatred. Wishing ill harm on someone… The bad things we think about in the secret places of our mind are equivalent to murder in God’s sight. And guess what? He can see our evil thoughts.

Committing sin defiles us. To defile means to desecrate or profane something sacred or damage the purity or appearance of something. Impurity is anything that defiles you, whether within your body or the things you say. Every lie you tell defiles you. Every person you sleep with outside of marriage defiles you. Every cigarette you smoke defiles you. Every swear word you say defiles you. If you’re constantly defiling yourself, it means that your heart isn’t pure, because everything that defiles comes from the heart – and if your heart isn’t pure, you can’t see God (Matthew 5:8). And if you can’t see God, how can you have a relationship with Him?

It is so important for us to keep ourselves pure because nothing impure can ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Revelation 21:27). That means if you’re not pure, you’re not getting into Heaven. Scary right? If all sin comes from the heart, there is always a reason behind our sin. To repent completely, we need to figure out the motives behind our sin and deal with the core issue.

Before I came to a knowledge of the truth, I thought that faith alone was enough to get me into Heaven. I indulged in drugs, alcohol, sex, laziness, abusive behaviour… you name it, I did it – and I thought it was fine and that I would still go to Heaven if I died. Thankfully, God had mercy on me and He sent me a group of women to study the Bible with, which helped me align my life to God’s Word. The truth was that I was struggling with severe depression and I used these impurities to try and numb the pain and escape from the way I was feeling. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t care enough. I couldn’t change until I truly wanted to change and I didn’t truly want to change until I was desperate for God. I tried to stop smoking weed countless times but I was never really that serious.

Think about some of the sins in your life that you have consistently struggled with and can’t seem to shake off. How many times have you tried to leave that sin behind you? You need to cut that sin off so that it doesn't stop you from entering Heaven. But think deeper – why can’t you leave that sin? What pushes you to want to do it? What is stopping you from giving it up? How does your heart feel about the sin?

A friend of mine really struggled with listening to explicit music and she didn’t want to give it up, despite knowing that the sin she was in was impurity and that it was defiling her. Music was a source of comfort because she used it to escape from the world. To repent of this, she had to deal with her heart. She wanted to numb out with music and escape instead of finding her comfort in God. She repented by removing all impure music from her playlists and began praying to God every time she needed comfort. It eventually became a habit for her to pray when she was in need and was able to purify herself and thus grow closer to God.

It may be that you need help purifying yourself and repenting of your sin. Christianity isn’t supposed to be done alone, we are called to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). If you need help in your relationship with God, are struggling to overcome sin, or even want to know what counts as sin, send me an email or reach out to me on Instagram and I can organise a Bible study for you. You don’t have to battle this alone, the Lord will send you the people you need.