An Open Heart part 5
To end this Rant series, let me connect the idea that we've been talking about--keeping our heart open to love rather than closing it down in order to avoid getting hurt--with 1 Peter 3:4, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." And the context of this verse is that what's on the inside is more important than what's on the outside. But I want the phrase, "hidden man of the heart." Because when you keep your heart open... maintaining it, using it the way its supposed to be used... the hidden man of the heart is no longer hidden. Christ in you the hope of REVEALED glory, right? What's inside coming out. But what's inside CAN'T come out if its all closed up. How could it? It has to overflow from a full heart. Which is the scientific defintion of full: filled to overflowing. What's inside WILL come out--or, rather, what you know and believe is inside will come out. What ever it is, it WILL come out. Its too big not to. Hurt is too big to keep in. Bitterness is too big to keep in. Whatever it is that you know and believe is inside you WILL come out. Forgiveness is too big to keep in. When you know you've been forgiven... you forgive people. Automatically. Naturally. When you've gone through something you understand when someone else is going through it. You can have empathy. Love is too big to keep in. When you know you are loved... you love people. Automatically. Naturally. Whatever is hidden in your heart (or, again, what you believe is hidden in there) comes out. Either you keep it closed, bottled up, and it ends up exploding on you and everybody else... or you keep it open and it flows. Seems to me that there's clearly a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. The hidden man of the heart is Jesus. And when the heart is open, He's not hidden anymore. He's revealed. To you, and in you, and through you, and as you. So don't let your past define you. Don't let your wounds destroy you. The heart, to my way of thinking, is stronger than we think. I know, for a fact, that it can ache. But even when it feels like it breaks... it heals. It can stay open. It WANTS to stay open. Love is the heart's purpose. So shutting it down is, in effect, destroying it. Wasting it. You can't live without your heart. Living is loving. Loving is living. God's heart beats with love in our chests. If we let it. If we don't shut it down. That's not how you guard your heart. That's not how you protect yourself. The only way to truly live is to let God love you and love God back by loving the people you come into contact with. And the only way--the ONLY way--to let God love you and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact with... is by keeping your heart open. Receiving and releasing God's love is impossible if your heart is closed. But if your heart is open... it happens automatically. Your heart beats without you telling it to. Love flows in and out without you making it. Just by you accepting it. The hidden man of the heart is revealed when your heart is open. GOD is revealed... LOVE is revealed when your heart is open!