I watched the cursor blink for a long while before I started typing. The main reason is because God is still dealing with my heart and I was not sure I should write anything while my heart desperately needs the same check. Our whole walk as sons of God is pegged on the condition of our hearts. The bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The battle between good and evil is fought in the mind but won in the heart. Someone used to ask my wife how is your heart and me and my jealous self-answered are you a doctor? As much as I did not like the one asking, the question itself is a very good question. I ask you, “How is your heart?”
I am an avid movie lover and I have watched a movie character start innocent and end up being the worst villain ever created and vice versa. Why is this? The circumstances they faced caused them to harden or soften their hearts. It is very easy to harden your heart because the world celebrates this. Let me give examples. Revenge is a dish best served cold or so they say in the movies. After watching a character who has been done wrong and abused, there’s a sense of satisfaction in watching them get even.
I loved the series, Punisher because that is exactly what I would be rooting for the character to do. When people hurt us, we tend to feel they have made a fool out of us and that we should show them that ‘mama raised no fool’. This is hidden pride. The devil whispers to you and says, “This person takes you for a fool. Show them what you are made of.” Does this sound familiar? When Jesus was tempted by the devil, the devil asked Him to throw Himself and prove who He is. The bible scholars say that there are three types of sin: lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life. Of the three of them one is the sneakiest which is the pride of life. While revenge seems a better option, forgiveness is really the only good option. Revenge hardens your heart while forgiveness softens your heart.
The heart has a self-preservation mechanism that seems to build walls the more it gets hurt after being vulnerable. You have built walls like the ones of Jericho so that no one ever hurts you again and the truth is that you will get hurt and building walls is for prisoners. Don’t you want to be free? I heard a song where one of the lyrics was God break my heart for the things that break yours. This is the journey of salvation. The bible says that Jesus was moved by compassion. Paul later wrote that without love everything you call ministry whether it is speaking in tongues, prophesying or healing the sick, is null and void. Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and loved him anyway. When life circumstances cause us to close our hearts and isolate ourselves so that no one can get too close, the only answer to this is fellowship. This very symptom of self-isolation leads to depression and eventually suicide. Allow yourself to be vulnerable for truly living is only done by faith.
I started by saying how much I love movies. One thing I love watching is a hardened face being slowly softened by the love shown. Love is able to break the Jericho walls of a hardened heart and not only restore and rebuild, but establish and bring to glory the city that was hidden behind those walls or should I say heart. As I said earlier, God is dealing with my heart over expectations, failures and the list goes on. One of the ways He restores my heart is by the reminder of the cross. This is the ultimate sign of God’s unconditional Love for me and for you. He gave up His dreams for His Father’s will, all for us.
My friends, whatever the state of your heart is, be open for LOVE to come and make you whole. For Love to truly free you to live and discover who you truly are in LOVE. Have you seen how children enjoy life and are free to love and to be loved? That joy that they spread just by smiling or saying hi to everyone they meet. Would that not be a great world to live in where we have become like children? Is that not what Jesus told us to be? May Love fill our hearts from this day and days to come.
God bless you