HEARTS DIRECTED INTO GOD'S LOVE
Today is Valentine's Day. The day we celebrate love. 'Tis the season where you see red hearts everywhere. So what better day could there be to focus on the love and heart of God? When I did a bible search on the phrase, God's love, the first verse that came up was 2nd Thess. 3:5.
I know I've read this verse plenty of times before but when I saw it this time it was like I was seeing it for the first time. I thought the wording was interesting and worth looking into. I thought it was profound and something we need to be praying for. So let's take a look at this verse and see what it means to have our hearts directed into God's love.
1) Directed hearts.
2nd Thess. 3:5, "May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance."
In context, Paul was talking to the church about standing firm and he prayed that their hearts may be encouraged and that they would be strengthened. He tells them the Lord is faithful and that he would protect them from the evil one. Paul states in vs. 4 that he's confident they will keep doing the things he had commanded. Then we have vs. 5.
To be directed is to be guided or led; to be instructed on where to go. In this case, the destination is God's love. But Paul's not referring to them being initially directed into God's love, as if they didn't have the love of God already. He commends them in his first letter for their labor prompted by love. He started the 2nd letter by thanking God for the love they had for each other.
So, Paul asking the Lord to direct their hearts into God's love was intended for a continual directing. We do need to have our hearts directed into God's love initially, but we also need to have our hearts directed into God's love continually; it needs to be maintained since we have an enemy who is bent on directing us away from God's love.
But what does it mean to have our hearts directed into God's love? Since vs. four talks about obedience, that's one of the ways we need to be directed into God's love. 1 John 2:5a, "But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him."
Some translate God's love as love for God. Both are applicable. If God's love is made complete in me than my love for God is made complete. And that complete love is seen in my obedience. Being directed into God's love is being directed in obedience to his commands.
Jesus told his disciples in John 14:15, "If you love me you will obey what I command."
Jesus joined love with obedience. If we are going to correctly respond to God's love in sending his son and Jesus' love in dying for our sins then we will begin to live our lives in obedience to his commands. And we'll strive to see his commands as a blessing. Not that obedience is easy but since we love God, obeying his commands is not a burden but a blessing.
Another way we have our hearts directed into God's love is through trust. Prov. 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
When we are directed into God's love we are given insight into all the valid reasons we can trust him. When we are outside of God's love in the sense of being loosely connected to God or being on the outer fringes, then we are going to have trust issues. It's hard to really trust someone you're not close to.
Being directed into God's love is being close to God. God's love is there for all of us but unless you're allowing yourself to be drawn in by that love you won't understand it. To trust the Lord with all our heart is to not have reservations about trusting him. A situation itself might cause us to be a nervous or even afraid but we don't doubt God's ability to handle it.
The love section in 1 Cor. 13 mentions that love always trusts. It also mentions that love always protects. If we can believe that God will always protect us then we can always trust him. Even when God allows the storm we can trust that he will protect us in the storm.
When we lean on our own understanding we are trusting ourselves. That means we trust the one who knows partially and sees vaguely instead of trusting the one who knows all and sees clearly. But when we realize that trusting God is always the way to go, we'll wonder why we ever doubted him. The more we're able to trust God the easier it will be to trust him wholeheartedly.
The greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. When we love God with all of our heart we will be able to trust God with all of our heart. And when we love with all our heart and trust with all our heart we will be able to acknowledge him in all our ways. Having our hearts directed into God's love is having our hearts directed by trust and obedience. As the song goes, 'trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus'.
We need to have our hearts directed into Christ's perseverance also. What does that mean? When we're talking about our hearts we're involving our emotions. Although love, patience and perseverance aren't emotions, emotions are tied to these things. There should be feelings attached to love. We should be excited about the Lord. There should be elation as well as vim and vigor.
We need to feel it. But more importantly, it involves commitment. Having our hearts directed into Christ's perseverance involves overcoming our emotions at times when we don't feel like going on. We still need to go in God's direction whether we feel like it or not-that's commitment.
So it's not just our emotions that are tied to God's love and Christ's perseverance, it's our drive and determination too. But regardless, if we're going to love, if we're going to persevere, we need heart.
The Thessalonians were looking forward to Jesus' return. There was a false rumor going around that it had already happened but Paul dispels that in chapter 2. But they needed to be patient and continue doing what they were called to do. As chapter three goes on, he gives some warnings about being idle.
It's understood that some thought the return of Christ was so close they stopped working; thinking, why bother, Jesus is coming back any day now. But Paul had explained in the first letter that the Lord's return will come like a thief in the night. So, basically, Paul tells them to get back to work and focus on your Christian walk.
Though Paul's instructions about patience and perseverance had something to do with waiting for Jesus' return, it had more to do with their practical Christian living. It was about having the patience and perseverance of Christ more than patiently waiting for Christ.
We should pray that our hearts are directed into Jesus' perseverance too. Sometimes the days are long and the frustrations are many. Patience and perseverance are things we desperately need as we continue to battle COVID.
When I think of having my heart directed into Jesus' perseverance, I think about his patience and perseverance. He was patient with his disciples. He chose raw and unpolished fisherman and those who had no experience in spiritual work. Jesus had to be patient with them as they learned from him and watched how he lived and handled situations.
Jesus had to persevere through all the garbage the religious leaders put him through. Jesus' heart was filled with patience and perseverance. We need to have the Lord direct our hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance too.
2) Loving hearts.
Having a loving heart all starts with experiencing, understanding and appreciating God's love for us. 1st John 4:19, "We love because he first loved us."
Our ability to love God and others stems from him loving us first. We can't know what love is apart from God. The world's love is temporary; God's love is permanent. The world's love is conditional; God's love is constant. The world's love is shallow; God's love is deep. The only way we are going to be able to truly love others with a godly love is when we experience, understand and appreciate God's love for us.
We are not equipped to love like that until we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Yes, non-Christians can love-to a degree. But it's when we come to Christ that we are truly able to have the agape love that exists in God alone. The only way we can love unconditionally is because God enabled us to.
We were covering persecution in the Wednesday night study and we were talking about biblical people like Jesus and Stephen who asked God to forgive the ones who were currently killing them. We also talked about real life examples like Corrie Ten Boom and her sister who forgave their torturers. When Jesus told us in the sermon on the mount to love our enemies and bless those who persecute us; he wants us to know that those extreme examples of love are not possible without the Spirit of Christ enabling us to do them.
God loved us-he sent his son to die in our place for the sins we committed. Through faith, repentance and baptism we are forgiven and God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are given out of God's great love for us. And with these gifts we are equipped to love as he loves.
1 John 4:12, "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
Loving God and others is a confirmation that God lives in us. To have our hearts directed into God's love enables us to have God's love made truly complete in us. That's why the two greatest commandments are all about love; because love is the most important thing.
1st Cor. 13:13, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Faith and hope are important, but if love is missing then my faith is incomplete. If love is missing then my hope is not secure. How strong can my faith and hope be if I'm not convinced that God loves me? How effectively can I live out my faith and hope if love is not the driving force?
In Galatians Paul tried to steer them away from following other gospels and from thinking they needed to follow the Jewish laws in order to be right with God. He said the righteous will live by faith. Then he said this in Gal. 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
God knew we couldn't follow the law; he knew no one could live up to his standard on their own. The law showed us how much we needed a Savior. In recognition of God's great love, mercy and grace we rejoice in the fact that we don't have the burden of trying to obtain righteousness through the law.
So in love for God and others we live in obedience-not because we're trying to earn God's favor but because we already have it through Christ. Being obedient merely as an obligation or fear of punishment is not good; there's no love in that. But, obedience that comes from knowing that God's commands stem from his love causes us to obey God out of love instead of fear or obligation.
When we realize that, we can express it to others. We can explain that obeying God is a blessing; not a curse. We're not being deprived of anything good-we're being protected from everything bad. When our faith expresses itself through love, we're not putting on a show-we're not just going through the motions, we are being genuine. We are showing and telling people that God loves them and following Jesus is not a burden but a joy.
Expressing my faith through love is the only way to do it. Could I really be that effective if I'm not? If people are going to be won over to Christ they need to see that his followers are passionate. Our hearts need to be directed into God's love and they need to be directed by God's love. God will always be working to direct our hearts into his love.
But the problem is, Satan will always be working to do the opposite-direct our hearts away from God's love. We may be heading straight for God's love but Satan will be off to the side with something to draw our attention away from the direction God is leading us. He wants us to take that detour and end up as far away as possible from the place God has designed our heart to be.
Satan will focus on directing our hearts towards self-love instead of loving God and others. He will work on directing our hearts towards the love of things; to love what was created over the Creator. His purpose is to keep our hearts focused on anything other than God and his commands; he wants us devoted to whatever displeases God.
He wants our hearts to become bitter and sour; he wants our hearts to become cold and hard. Instead of having a heart that's bursting with love and joy, Satan wants our hearts to shrivel up and die.
But our love for God and others and our patience and perseverance will keep that from happening. When we operate under obedience prompted by love and when love is at the center of my hope and faith my heart will always be full of love. When my faith expresses itself through the love of Christ I will be operating in joy, fulfillment and contentment. It's about knowing God loves us and us loving him and others.
In the Feb. issue of Family Times magazine there were two articles that caught my attention. One was on doing a Valentine's Day craft using a heart shaped mold and broken crayons. You peel the paper off the broken crayons and melt down the wax, put it in the mold and let it harden. And Walla, you have a tie-dyed looking heart shaped wax mold. The author states they are a simple way to create a personalized message of affection and friendship. Plus, they're beautiful and fun to color with.
That made me think of what God has done for us. We are broken crayons. He has taken off our wrapper and clothed us with Christ. What he's doing now is melting us down and reshaping us into the image of Jesus; into the image of love. As a church, he has taken all of us who are different colors and melted us down to form one mold.
That's what a church should be, right? A tie-dyed blend of colors and personalities that form one heart mold, giving personalized messages of affection and friendship as we set out to color the world with the love of Christ.
The second article was about celebrating Valentine's Day as a family. Among the various ideas I thought about how they could be attached to the church family when we meet. Heart themed meals. If the Lord's Supper isn't a meal of love I don't know what is.
Share the love. This was about getting out in the community and giving valentines or chocolates to people who are lonely or shut-ins or in hospitals and nursing homes. When we are out in the community we share the love of Christ, both in practical ways and in sharing the gospel.
Read books about love together. We gather together to read the greatest book about love ever written. But the article listed some titles and I could see how they can be connected to God and his church. Somebody loves you, Mr. Hatch. Isn't that the truth! Someone does love us-God. We know he loves us because he sent his son to die in our place.
Hugs and kisses for the grouchy ladybug. This reminds me that we are to love the unlovable. I'll love you 'till the cows come home. This made me think of the fact that God's love is never-ending. The last two on the list were simply titled, Love and Love is. God is love and he has shown us countless ways what love is and what it looks like.
So, on this Valentine's Day as you shower your sweetheart with love and affection, don't forget the best love of all-the love that God has shown us and the capability we have to love Him and others. So, may the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
