Out of the mouth of babes...¹

Four year old Kailey was trying to understand what her dad, Kyle, was watching on the Discovery Channel. It was a special series on ancient Egyptian mummies and the process used to preserve their bodies. But how do you explain this process to a four year old? “Enquiring minds want to know” and few minds are more enquiring than a four year old! So Kyle tried to explain that they had to remove the organs of the dead person before they could do the work necessary to preserve the body.

“What are organs, daddy?”

Hmm, good question, but how do you answer this as a dad without being gross or overwhelming a little child? You get mom to help!

“Organs are what are inside you,” Jenni gently explained to Kailey. “Things like your stomach, liver, and heart.”

After a moment of processing, Kailey had a grave look of concern as she innocently protested, “They can’t take out his heart, Daddy!”

Kyle tried to reassure her that the person was no longer alive and that he would be fine. Kailey, however, would not let go of her concern. Something was very wrong in her mind about the whole procedure.

“No Daddy!” she emphatically said, “they can’t take away his heart, that is where Jesus lives.”

    Valentines day, for good or ill, is very much a part of our cultural landscape. There is much talk about love. Candy hearts, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, cards with heart designs are all used to remind us of the importance of heartfelt love. The whole experience hovers between the sentimental and sappy, the ridiculous and the sublime. For some, this day is extremely important. For others, it is a frivolous waste of time.

Our love will be shallow and something less than God designed until Jesus lives in our hearts.

    Is there a place for us, as believers, to enter into all this love talk and it be more than just another marketing holiday for candy makers, florists, and jewelers? Yes, I believe there is an important place for the insight of faith. I believe it is very important that we communicate our love clearly, tenderly, respectfully, genuinely... However, I also operate under a deeper conviction that our love will not be fully genuine, that it will not be all that it is meant to be, until our hearts have been captured by Jesus. Our love will be shallow and something less than God designed until Jesus lives in our hearts.

    Despite all that has been written about the Christian word for love, agape, it really didn’t mean anything special until it was picked up by the writers of the New Testament and used to describe God’s love for us and demonstrated by Jesus’ actions to redeem us.² God’s kind of love can’t be defined by a dictionary or by a lexicon. True love is defined by words and actions toward another. We know what this kind of love is because of what Jesus has done and how it motivates us to love each other (1 John 3:16; 4:8-10). We lovingly submit ourselves to each other because of our loving respect for Jesus (Ephesians 5:21). When we go through difficult spells, we persevere in love because love is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

    So as you hear all this talk about love this week, remember Kailey’s truth and let it be true in you. Love lives in our hearts because it is the home of Jesus. And if Jesus seems distant, or you don’t find him there as regularly as you would like, then remember his words to you, his disciple: “Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.” (Revelation 3:20) Invite him back into your heart. Ask him to make his home there. Make a point to live for him. Do what he asks of you and show your love for him. If you do, you will find that what Kailey said is true, your heart is where Jesus lives.

“Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them. ... All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (Jesus words to his disciples in John 14:21 & 23)

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¹ This is a real story involving real folks from a precious family in our congregation.
² Despite the hype, agape was used up to the first century much like the word for love is used today: “I love my wife... I love football... I love chocolate pie... I love to sleep late...” There was no hint of “unconditional love” in the meaning of agape until it was used by writers of the N.T. as they were led by the Holy Spirit. They helped define agape by using it to describe God’s love for us in sending Jesus (John 3:16). God made clear that true love is something much more powerful than just a feeling or a spoken word, it is something sacrificially demonstrated (1 John 4:9-10). So don’t let someone pull out the Greek and try to tell you what love means. Love for Christians isn’t defined by a dictionary or a lexicon, but by a holy God who loves us so much that he would empty heaven of its greatest treasure so that we would not be left out of his grace. You don’t have to know Greek to understand God’s definition of love; all you need to know is Jesus and his sacrifice. Jesus affirmed his Father’s definition of love when he himself said, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it — the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” (John 15:9-13 NLT)

Title: "At Home in Our Heart"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: February 11, 2002

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