H-ear-t part 1
I teased this Rant series before getting caught up and fired up with my discussion about the fig tree with my son, so we're going to do it now. The heart is important, right? I think we can all agree with that. Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) reads like this, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Which goes right along with something I always say, "Follow your heart." In other words, the heart is important. But the reason I titled this Rant series the way I did, and the reason I'm spending the next few days on it, is because in order to follow our heart, or guard our heart, we have to LISTEN to our heart. That's the center of the heart. The heart of the matter, you might say. The EAR that is in between the H and the T. Look at Revelation 2:17 (NLT), "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it." An ear to hear. And not only listen, and hear, but understand. The hidden manna and the white stone. The stone with our new name written on it. The name of Jesus. That is our new (true) name. That is our true identity. That is who we really are. And the reason nobody knows what's written on that white stone except the one who receives it is... nobody can receive Jesus for you. Even reading the Bible--Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so--is only a link in the chain. You have to HEAR that still, small voice deep inside you. The voice of your heavenly Father saying, "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The voice of God saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you," with every beat of HIS heart in our cheste. Guarding our heart is all about keeping it open. Open to love. Not shutting it down in the hopes of being able to protect ourselves. We've all been hurt. Experienced heartache. But if you close your heart down you destroy the possiblity of experiencing what you were created for. You were created to be loved, and to love. To receive and release the love of God. To breathe it in and breathe it out. To hear (with your hEARt) what the Spirit is speaking, and then to speak life to those you come into contact with. To let God love you and then to love Him back by loving those you come into contact with. To let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. To obey the New Commandment (for the New Man, which is Jesus, God in the flesh, love in a body... God in YOUR flesh, love in YOUR body) by loving others as Jesus loves you. Receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it and releasing it. Hearing the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God in your heart and then speaking that Word with your mouth and with your actions. Don't forget that actions speak louder than words. Preach the gospel at all times, and if you have to... use words. Let what's in your heart come out with every breathe you take and every move you make. Hear it... and obey it. Give what you've got by knowing what you've got. Guard your heart by listening to your heart! Listening WITH your heart!