A Heart. We all have a heart, our heart takes blood in and then sends blood out.  When the heart takes no blood in, the heart has no blood to send out.  The heart provides all of the needs to the body delivering oxygen and nourishment allowing our brain and nervous system to function. A healthy heart works productively and allows the body to be active.  The heart is where our life is centered.

The heart must take blood in to send blood out in a healthy manner.  Our heart functions with love in the same manner.  To love in a healthy and productive manner we must take love in to send love out.  When we cut out a heart made of construction paper often we fold the paper in half to ensure the two halves are equal in size this can symbolize how a heart needs to take in love.  We must take in at least how much love we send out or we weaken our heart.

We can focus on another person and try to love them but they will disappoint us.  To depend on simply another person to fill our heart with love will weary us.  We will have expectations that are not met.  When we are looking for them to fill our heart with love they simply cause us to doubt them.   When the object of our focus does not give us love we can become empty and bitter as though the heart has dried up.  We can see this is true in the number of broken marriages and families we have in our world.

Our heart will always look for that one source of love that will make us complete.  God is that one source.   God does love us and as we take His love in we have an overflowing amount of love to send out not just to God but to others also.

God loves you.  We all know this from the verse:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The nature of this love is where we struggle at times.  A group of people will be told by a speaker that he loves them.  But what does that mean?  The speaker is friendly towards them, wants the best for them, and cares about them but it is a different kind of love.

If you would be able to approach the speaker after the event and say “let’s go out for lunch or what are you doing Saturday afternoon”.  The speaker might think you are overstepping your bounds, he might even call security.  He said he loved you but that didn’t mean he wanted to develop a relationship with you.  It wasn’t that kind of love.  In the end sometimes we wonder if they mean it like I love you like I love lasagna.  Since we have experienced the speaker’s kind of love we can confuse it with the love God has for us.

God loves you. He has gone to great lengths to show you He loves you.  His Son died on the cross for your sins so you could have a closer relationship with Him. It is an all-consuming love God doesn’t want you just for 60-90 minutes on Sunday morning He wants you 24/7.  Now to some of you that may seem almost too much, when you fellowship with God through His word this will help reveal His love.

God loves you totally!  He spends all of his time thinking about you.  You are never out of His thoughts.  He just wants your attention.  He has so many blessings to give you all you would have to do is ask.  He doesn’t love you like lasagna, something you can get your fill of and don’t need to have for a long time.  God wants to give you His love, His deep satisfying love this will help you to love Him at a deeper level.

A new Christian reads the Holy Bible because they love God.  Our relationship with God is very close to a parallel of a marriage.  A new bride loves to do things for the love of her life.  But as time passes the tasks she has taken on become housework and they are a chore and the delight is diminished.  Reading the Holy Bible can seem the same way we begin to read the Holy Bible due to love, to learn the dos and don’ts in life.  As time passes and disappointments happen and they happen to all of us, our zeal can diminish also.  Then when we read the Holy Bible it is to do our homework.  Many Christians read the Holy Bible each day because you are supposed to.  Reading the Holy Bible daily is what all Christians are supposed to do.

We were never meant to read the Holy Bible to do homework, we are to spend time in God’s Word to get to know God so we can receive the love He has for us.

As we continue this series we will search for a greater understanding of God’s love and this will help us to have healthier hearts.

Written by Joyce E Poggensee

Verses referenced  John 3:16