I think I love hearts so much because of the symbolism and because, generally, they are symmetrical. To me, there’s just so much meaning and beauty in them. So, I asked Him to send them to me in any way He chose. I read a Christian writer’s account of Him sending hearts in various ways. I was envious because that guy didn’t ask for them and certainly wouldn’t appreciate them like I do. After that request, He’s done it just about daily. I was in an antique store and He showed me these 3 hearts in ~3 minutes. He’s probably trying to send me a holy message, but I’m spiritually dense sometimes, so I don’t have any great heavenly insight regarding them. Still, I was happy to get these hearts. Right now though, as I’m thinking back, maybe there is a message. It’s been over a month since I saw these, but somehow I believe that He is drawing me back to that day. I think He’s doing this because I need to think about the heart. Just because I love them doesn’t mean I really understand them. Especially my own. I want to love Him and love like Him. But I contend with legalism every day. Love wins out a lot of the time so that I live to please Him out of that love. Yet legalism is still hanging around and I have guilt surrounding things that I do or have done that were the opposite of loving Him. This morning, in church, I attended a Bible class that is studying Romans. In my mind I’m thinking “I really don’t want to be here but watch, He’s probably going to say something profound that I need to hear.” He did. He read Romans 7:15-20 in the ERV:
The War Inside Us
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am so human. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate. And if I don’t want to do what I do, that means I agree that the law is good. But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it. Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do what is good, but I don’t do it. I don’t do the good that I want to do. I do the evil that I don’t want to do. So if I do what I don’t want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it. So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. In my mind I am happy with God’s law. But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!
I know this passage. It’s not a new concept, but I’ve been so miserable that reading it today revealed the heart issue. I can love Him or I can love sin but not both. Clearly, my legalism and guilt doesn’t work. Since I’m human, I need a heart rescue. He is already in me. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians 1:27 I just need to let Him take over my heart. “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.”—Ephesians 3:17 He makes me faultless by His love which covers me in Grace. I believe I am faultless and my love response drives how I live. Not, I believe I am sinful and it drives me to become faultless. This is all basic Christianity but the world messes with your head sometimes. The other great revelation the study revealed was that, when I choose to do good, evil will be right there. Which means, I really need Jesus to take over so I don’t have to do a dance with the devil. I’m still not sure why 3 hearts but maybe because it takes a lot to get me to hear from my heart.
Love Always and Forever???