Heart
Love
Here is a spiritual principle: We cannot
exercise love unless we are experiencing grace. You cannot truly love others
unless you are convinced that God's love for you is unconditional, based solely
on the merit of Christ, not on your performance. Our love, either to God or to
others, can only be a response to His love for us. Jerry Bridges
I was reading a devotional by Rick Warren and
he was talking about loving people from the heart. He made a statement that stuck with me. He said that if we don’t love people from the
heart then they get on our nerves. If we
react to each other from our minds instead of our hearts then we are not loving
with “heart love”.
What does it mean to love other people from
the heart? It means it is necessary to
ask questions and really listen to the answers.
If you hear the hurt and try to understand it, you are moving toward “heart
love”.
There are going to be people in this life who
are going to get on our nerves. So how
do we come to love that type of person?
One of the things I do when that occurs is I think of things that person
may be going through that I know nothing about.
There may be a tragedy in that person’s life that has broken them. I run different scenarios through my
head. What if that person lost a son or
daughter or maybe a parent? If I practice
“heart love” then my heart will be softened toward that person and instead of
getting on my last nerve, I see them in a different light. The light I see them in is God’s light.
When God said to love your neighbor, he
didn’t mean only when they do what you like or want. I have a neighbor who is
volatile when he drinks. You really
never know who walks out of his garage on any given day. He has a lot of anger in him and he shows
that anger sometimes to his kids. I’ve
been the unfortunate witness to this one day when I left my house. The same person has helped us repair our
fence and gate, but he is also the same one who later backed out of the garage
and hit that same fence while my husband was standing in the driveway. Did it aggravate me every day when I walk out
to get into my car and my gate wouldn’t open properly because my neighbor
knocked it out of whack? Yes. But every time I get aggravated I stop myself
and think about the issues he has in his life.
If I don’t consciously remind myself of the Holy Spirit living in me, I
will never love others as I should in this life.
One of the things that God has provided to
help us is the Holy Spirit. If the Holy
Spirit lives in us we will start reflecting “heart love”. Have you figured out that a lot of what we
call love is not really love at all? Let
the Holy Spirit dwell in you and God’s love will be made complete in us.
Prayer for the Day:
Heavenly Father, there are times when I do not show others “heart love”. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was
You showing us “heart love”. That kind
of love is not based on how much we love God, but on how much He loves us. I
have figured out that there are times in my life when I am unlovable, yet You
continue to show me Your love with all the blessings in my life. Help me to demonstrate “heart love” to
everyone I meet. I worship and praise
you forever.
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