This expression has become a cliche, but for whatever reason it sticks in my head like that milli vanilli song "Girl you know it's true......oooo......oooooo......oooo....I love you." But I digress. What is interesting about the expression "taking it to heart" is that most often when used by most, it is misused. When someone generally says this, they usually mean they allowed themselves to be emotionally impacted by "it". Here's the dealio. Being impacted emotionally is not the equivalent of taking something to heart. Allowing your actions to be changed and yielding yourself to the truth of or the impact of "it" by changing your beliefs and therefore actions/behaviors is taking it to heart.
Taking it to heart is kind of like ingesting something and having it flow through your blood stream to become a part of who you are. This has obvious application to our walk with Christ cuz if any of you are like me perhaps you've been impacted emotionally many, many times by Christ, his life, the gospel, etc., but given this definition of taking "it" to heart, how much of Him have I really taken to heart. I am humbled many times at the answer, and I pray that he continues to patiently make His grace available to me to grow in the percentage of times that I can answer yes to this question instead of hanging my head in shame and frustration.