Heart part 3
I want to take a little bit of a detour today. We're talking about the heart, right? About how before the cross--or before you begin to know and believe that God has given you His heart and it beats with love in your chest--all we could think about was trying to get what we thought we didn't have. How a shift needed to happen. How it was only through the Holy Spirit--our love receptor, the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth--that we could accept the gift we've been given. Accept it, by receiving it and releasing it. Before the cross, we wanted love, but we thought we didn't have it. We thought we had to earn it. After the cross, we were equipped and empowered to love by knowing and believing that we are loved. Love lets us love. Because you can't give something you don't have. God filled us up with His love, and now we can fill ourselves up to overflowing with that love and let it out. But like I said, I want to take a little side step today. I want to talk about 2 Samuel 24:10, "And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." There's a lot of backstory here, but I want to cut through a lot of it. Basically, David wanted to count the people and see how powerful he was in numbers. God didn't want him to. He did anyway. And then his heart smote him. I think its funny that religious people think its their job to be like, Spiritual Cops. They think they can make people... be better. Or something. But I heard a preacher say it like this, "If the Holy Spirit can't change a person, what chance do I have?" Its like we don't trust the Holy Ghost to do His job. His ONE job! To lead and guide us into the truth that God is love and He loves you. Love is what "changes" us. And I put quotes around it because its not a change as much as it is just a revealing of the truth that has been covered up by all the world's... stuff. We pile up all our mistakes, and our expectations, and our misconceptions, and we get this twisted idea of how things are "supposed" to be, and this twisted idea of who we are. But then the wind of the Holy Spirit blows and gets rid of all that stuff and reveals God (LOVE) to us, by revealing God (LOVE) in us! David's heart smote him. There was something inside that wouldn't line up with "conventional wisdom." He didn't trust God--that time, at that point--at he immediately knew something was off. I call that trusting your gut. Listening to that still, small voice deep inside. That's our conscience. Or our compass. Whatever you want to call it. Its the heart. And as simply as I can put it: If its love, its all good. Love might not get you things your way all the time. But love WILL reveal things in Divine Order. All the time. Every time. Love is the answer. And that doesn't mean shoving your idea of love down someone's throat. It means listening to your heart. Letting the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) light your path. Letting your heart lead the way. Letting your heart rein you in. Or recalibrate you. Letting your heart correct you. Don't just plow ahead, I think is my point. My Bible case says, "God allows U-turns." So let your heart smite you. Let your heart heal you. Let your heart lead you!