With what sort of heart will you live this week?
The Bible is full of warnings about the condition of our hearts. From cover to cover we read about hearts full of evil intentions, hard hearts, bitter hearts, deceitful hearts, proud hearts, and foolish hearts. “Watch over your heart with all diligence,” wisdom counsels in Proverbs 4:23. “For from it flow the springs of life.”
So what sort of heart will feed the springs of your life this week? Acts 2:46 gives us a model worth imitating…
Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts…
Glad. What did these early brothers and sisters in Christ have to be “glad” about? Forgiveness. Teaching. Fellowship. Prayer. Their lives had been turned around. The promises of God had been made personal. They had been added by the Lord himself to something much larger than themselves, and their hearts were “glad.”
Generous. Devout people from every nation under heaven had gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost. In one day, about three thousand souls had been baptized in the name of Jesus and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. But how could this explosive growth be sustained and nurtured in Jerusalem–far from home for many–for any length of time? “Generous” hearts. “They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:45).
In spite of the inconveniences of what could be a really difficult week, what do you have to be glad about? “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8). Do you hear that? You will choose what fuels and fills your heart this week. Choose carefully.
In spite of the anxieties of what could be a really difficult week, what difference could you make–even socially distanced–if you set your heart on being a generous person? You don’t even have to leave your house. You can be generous in prayer for others. Generous in encouragement via text, phone call, or social media. Generous in compassion. Generous in patience.
Glad and generous. Two Gs that cause light to shine in the darkness. Let’s live with 2G hearts this week.