As an Act of Love
10/13/2006
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Caring for our own hearts isn’t selfishness; it’s how we begin to love.
Yes, we care for our hearts for the sake of others. Does that sound like a contradiction? Not at all. What will you bring to others if your heart is empty, dried up, pinned down? Love is the point. And you can’t love without your heart, and you can’t love well unless your heart is well.
When it comes to the whole subject of loving others, you must know this: how you handle your own heart is how you will handle theirs. This is the wisdom behind Jesus’ urging us to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). “A horrible command,” as C. S. Lewis points out, “if the self were simply to be hated.” If you dismiss your heart, you will end up dismissing theirs. If you expect perfection of your heart, you will raise that same standard for them. If you manage your heart for efficiency and performance, that is what you’ll pressure them to be.
“But,” you protest, “I have lots of grace for other people. I’m just hard on myself.” I tried the same excuse for years. It doesn’t work. Even though we may try to be merciful toward others while we neglect or beat up ourselves, they can see how we treat our own hearts, and they will always feel the treatment will be the same for them. They are right. Eventually, inevitably, we will treat them poorly too.
(Waking the Dead , 211–12)
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From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 286
Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com
I, Kelly, recently had a big breakthough in this area. I realized that I did not love my neighbor as myself…. Rather, l loved the more. Always working hard to please others, to make sure they were happy, putting them first. But i realized, this was not out of love for them, it was out of hate for myself. Self-critisizm and self-condemnation. All lies that the enemy, that sneaky little serpent from the Garden of Eden, was whispering in my ear for years and years.
It was during a silent retreat that my life slowed down long enough for me to really hear God, and i was reminded that I am a daughter of the King, that I am truly womderfully made, that i am beautiful and captivating in His site. Opening my heart to Christ again, being filled with the Holy Spirit, loving myself as God loves me… true FREEDOM! And, that opened my heart o to compassion, to truly being able to love another, not out of my own self-hate, but out of a truly open loving heart.
I invite you to look into your own hearts, do you love what you see, do you know that you are a child of God? If not, ask Him to show you who you are, what He sees in you, who He made you to be!!! I know that you will like what you see, because I know each one of you, and you are beautiful souls in my eyes, and the eyes of God!
So to all of you reading this blog… thank you thank you thank you… Many of you have supported me for a long time, loved me for a long time!!! I am blessed and humbled to have all of you in my life. And thank you so much for supporting me on the World Race. I look forward to sharing lots of stories and pictures with you over the months to come!
