Heart part 2
There was a time--cosmically speaking (if that's the right term)--where there was nothing in man's heart except, "I want, I want, I want." We were ruled by our desire because we thought we were missing something. And it was so important to fill that hole inside of us. The thing about that hole though, is that it is a God-shaped (love-shaped) hole. And only one thing can fill a God-shaped (love-shaped) hole. God. Love. So even while we were doing everything we could think of to do in order to fill that hole--look at Ecclesiastes for a pretty good example of looking for love in all the wrong places--the cry of our heart was, "Love me. Hear me. See me. Embrace me. Please..." Look at Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." And this is David, the man who is described as being after God's own heart. That doesn't mean he HAD it. It means he was AFTER it. He wanted it. He cried out for it. He knew enough to know that he needed something. So something had to change. Something had to give. And that was God... giving His only begotten Son... to us. He wanted us to have that clean heart. That right Spirit. So He gave it to us. No strings attached. A gift is not a gift if you have to earn it. Or pay for it. A gift is freely given and must be received. Received and released. Because love is giving. God didn't give us His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life so that we could hoard it to ourselves. He gave it to us so that we could give it to others. We are blessed to be a blessing. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. We have something to give, and we have... not an obligation, but an opportunity... to give it. When Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit descended the cry of our heart was answered. The Holy Spirit is the love receptor. He is the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you. So rather than chasing that love--and I know Genesis describes it as wickedness in our hearts, and it could be seen as selfishness, I think more than anything it's just that need. That need to be loved that makes us do anything we think might fill that hole--but on this side of the cross, rather than chasing that love we can receive it. We can let God love us because the Holy Spirit is speaking in that still, small voice and telling us that He loves us with every beat of His heart in our chests. Our cry was, "Love me... love me... love me..." And now, every beat of God's heart in our chests says, "I love you... I love you... I love you..." The call has been answered. The cry of our heart has been answered. The hole in our heart--that God-shaped, love-shaped hole--has been filled. We ARE loved. And that means we CAN love. Blessed to be a blessing. Receiving and releasing. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving each other. That's what this life is all about. That's why we were created. That's our purpose. And it all comes from the heart!