Are you filled with the love of Christ?

In the movie Saved, Mandy Moore plays a young woman who exemplifies cultural Christianity. She looks the part and knows all of the right things to say when encountering those of differing viewpoints. The essential problem is although she knows what to say, the heart behind the words is entirely bankrupt of love. When a disagreement happens with a young woman struggling with her faith and the outworking of her choices, Moore's character throws a Bible and hits the young woman in the back, all while yelling, "I am filed with  the love of Christ!"

Proverbs 4:23 states it like this: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life.” The word picture here is graphic. The heart is a well from which all the issues of life gush forth. A youth pastor of mine growing up would say it this way: What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.
The behavior a person exhibits is an expression of the overflow of the heart. Why bring this up?
 
Evangelism and discipleship.

If when we are rebuffed while trying to share the love of Christ in the form of the sharing of the Gospel with others and they reject the message, our response tells us a great deal about our motives. If they reject the message and we respond with anger and hateful rebuttals, the conversation was about "winning souls" not the transformation of a life and transference of a soul from darkness to light. We've made the emphasis about ourselves and taken the rejection of Christ as the rejection of us. If, on the other hand, the rejection does not end the friendship or conversation, we truly are having Gospel conversations. You and I were most likely not saved on the first hearing of the Gospel. Have patience with new hearers. Show them the same love you coveted when you started out. 


The same is true with discipleship. How you treat someone who struggles, stumbles, and falls in sin while trying to run the race of faith says more to do with your heart than theirs. A heart that loves, celebrates achievements in sanctification and encourages in the midst of failings.  

If God is near...

In my daily devotional, Heart of the Matter: Daily Reflections for Changing Hearts and Lives, I am often struck by the way the collective authors seek to get to the heart of the issue. This morning's reading was no different.

"If the Lord is near, if he is someone who knows what’s on your heart, who knows what weighs heavily on you and preoccupies you, then he is a hearer of his beloved children. Many psalms start out by pleading with God—Lord, listen to me, bend your ear, you must hear me, I need you to listen and act on my behalf. These are not calm psalms; they are intense and pointed. In Psalm 28, David tells God that if God doesn’t hear him, he will die. This is faith talking, and David talks this way because God is listening. God’s listening does not guarantee that what is making you anxious will go away—that your financial problems will be solved, that you will be cured of cancer, or that whatever else is worrying you will disappear. You may not be healed, people you love may die, and you may struggle with financial stress. But God comforts, strengthens, and gives hope in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. Jesus did not want to drink the cup of God’s wrath. But God strengthened him, and he was fully willing. There’s help from him for whatever worries you. So when you are anxious pour your heart out to God. He is listening." - David Powlinson

I find all too often that I am anxious. At the root of it all is my selfish desires and tendencies. I can see that and yet still find me fighting the anxiousness. I strive to cast my cares upon Christ, knowing that He cares for me (1 Peter 5:7), but struggle to do the much harder task of 1 Peter 5:6 of humbling myself. Of course I can hand off my cares. My cares are easy to hand off! I don't want them! But i will not find hope, peace, comfort, or joy in the handing off of them until I also find myself trusting in the God who has had them all along. His ways are higher than my ways and His plan for my life brings so much greater glory to Him and brings about more eternal good for my life than any choice I could ever make independently of Him. Since God is near, I am free to trust in Him. Since God is near, I am free to trust in Him. Since God is near, I am free to obey Him.

Simple Reminders to Cry Out

In Psalm 107, we find the emphasis lies on God’s goodness in spite of man’s sin. God is always, consistently faithful, and yet I find my heart prone to wander away from His presence. As a believer, we must remember that when we feel far away from God, the one who promised never to leave us or forsake us, that our feelings are deceptive, but do provide a glimpse into the state of our hearts. When we turn our backs on God, we lose sight of Him to rebel, but God never loses sight of us. He stands to save and never backs away from the promises he offers. 

Psalm 107 offers an emphatic recounting of this truth. In verses 6, 13, 19, and 28 we find that every time man has come to his end (the end of his rope, his strength, his thoughts, his abilities, his resources), he has cried out to God. That in and of itself is not that spectacular; we are trained from infancy to cry out when our needs are not met in a timely fashion. What is spectacular is that God, the almighty Father we have continually turned our backs on, is so ever present that when we cry, He always hears us. Not only does he hear us, "he delivers them from their distress." Four times in this Psalm do we find God's readiness and willingness to save his children when they cry out to Him.

What we also find is the term, "steadfast love" six times throughout this passage. This particular phrase is used in nearly every Psalm as a heavenly reminder that His love never fades or is disrupted by our character, because of His great character.

In my failings, I need the constant reminder and hope of God's Word, that specifically the Psalms offers: God's love is not dependent on me. He is ever faithful and ready to respond to my cries in distress, but longs to lead me away from the things that would steal my joy to begin with. In tenderness, He seeks to love me and His constant presence, another sign of His faithfulness, reminds me that a covenant births a relationship.