Is it excessive to post more than one post in one day? I just have so much to write all the time. I must take advantage of the inspiration when it comes.
Imagine with me: What if all we saw was the heart of people? What if, in some miracle, for a day we saw nothing but the raw hearts of people? What if the physical realm was nonexistent and we could not hide behind pretense? All the interaction would be heart to heart. All truth of where we really are exposed to everyone around us.
What would that change? How would we react? Would humanity be defined differently?
The Lyrics to a Brandon Heath song asks God: "Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing. Give me your love for humanity. Give me your arms for the broken hearted, the ones that are far beyond my reach. Give me your heart for the once forgotten...Well I want a second glance, so give me a second chance to
See the way you see the people all alone"
Maybe the reason we don't see the way God does is that he is protecting us. Maybe we seriously just couldn't hack it. Our hearts are so marred by hurt and sin and corruption. Maybe it would overwhelm and depress us.
But I can't help but wanting the same thing as Brandon Heath. In my humanness, skin is way too big of an issue. Our physical bodies are supposed to be used for God's glory, not as a way to hide what is inside or to be the focus in and of itself.
This concept challenges me. What am I really looking at when I see a person? Do I really look for their heart? If you flip the challenge, how do I appear to others? Do they see my heart? Am I vulnerable enough?
Is my skin a means to protect my pride?
1 John 3:16-24:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and see his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
This passage smacks it down on the table for me. Our hearts are not okay. How do we set our hearts at rest? We LOVE! This love is deeper than our skin. This love is about how we act and not about what we have or look like. This love is about laying down our lives for those around us... in other words... to care for someone's heart with no inhibitions from our pride or selfish nature. How? Simply: God. God is greater. He allows us the capacity to love. And this love conquers all.
1 comment:
Jillian! Ahhhhh! Thank you for writing, for writing this, for sharing your heart. Yes! I'm thinking some similar things as you right now, this phenomenal opportunity woven into every moment to commune with God and to share that love with those around us. Thank you for letting me in on the blog. I'll check in regularly. In fact, I may even get mine dusted off and running again.
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