Heartily part 2
There are, in my opinion, two parts to doing things heartily. There's doing it because it is in your heart to do it, and there is doing it to the best of your ability--as unto God, and not as unto men--taking "deserve" out of the question. Let me say it another way, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). The will--doing it because it is in your heart to do it--and the the do--doing it to the best of your ability. And did you notice that it is GOD working in oyu to accomplish those things? It is the God who is love that empowers you... to love. Because, let's get real, what else could come from the heart BUT love? I say nothing. I don't think the heart is concerned with anything other than love. I think the heart is extremely single-minded. What happens is that we don't always listen to our heart. There's this gigantic thing about "head vs heart" that's out there, right? The battle? Or at the very least the balance? Trying to make sure we don't let one rule over the other. Well... I'm not really sure where that came from, but I'm here to say that your heart ought to be in charge. And that your heart is the mind of Christ. So we're good either way. I'm here to say follow your heart, because it won't lead you astray. Now, as a caution, what this DOESN'T mean is that you should be that "fool in love" type of deal where you do nonsense in order to get someone to love you. Sometimes that sort of thing works in, like, romantic comedies. But let's be real--if you have to convince someone to love you, is that really love? If you have to beg for something, even if you get it, is it really worth it? But I digress. What I'm trying to say is--love WILL make you go the extra mile. But not in order to GET something, but simply to GIVE everything you've got. To lay your life down for your friends. And to realize that you destroy your "enemies" by making them your friends. My dad taught me a long time ago, "You can never be too nice to people." And, really, being nice to people isn't that hard. It gets hard when we start looking at the idea of whether or not they deserve it. Because deserve has nothing to do with it. You don't give because of what people give you. You give because of what GOD has given you. Look at 1 Joh 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." And, really, the word "him" is in italics, which means it was added. So you can read this verse, "We love, because he first loved us." Honestly, it works either way. Because we love Him BY loving each other. The point is that we receive and release His love. Love is giving. So you can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. God had to first give us love so that we could then give that love. Receiving it and releasing it. That's the New Commandment of the New Man--love one another as Jesus has loved you. Let His love (that's already in there) in and out. Keep your heart by keeping it open. Do what you do because it is GOD doing it in you. It is GOD working in you both to will and to do of HIS good pleasure. He wants you to love... so He loves you. He gives you what He wants you to have... what He wants you to share. What He wants you to give. That's how God has always operated. He provides what we need so that we can give it to each other. He fills us up so that we can fill ourselves up to overflowing with what He has already filled us up with. He loves us... so that we can love Him back by loving each other. He loves us... and because of that, we can love. Because of that we ARE love. Because of that we can do whatsoever we do... heartily. To the best of our ability, and because it is in our heart to do it!