With what sort of heart will you live this week?
The Bible is full of warnings and encouragements 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 hearts. What did these brothers and sisters in Christ have to be “glad” about? Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Teaching. Fellowship. Prayer. Purpose. Assurance. Hope. 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 hearts. 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 Christ for the forgiveness of their sins 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” (2:45).
So what about me? What about you? As a fresh God-given week begins to unfold, 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? There’s plenty about and in the world that is beyond our control, but we will choose what fuels and fills our hearts this week. Let’s choose carefully.
What difference could we make for the glory of God and the good of others this week if we generously opened the gates of our hearts? Generous with our money. Generous with our time and undivided attention. Generous in prayer for others. Generous in encouragement, praise, and expressions of thanks. Generous in compassion. Generous in patience. Generous in hospitality. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Gladness and generosity. Their presence or absence in our hearts will shape the ways we receive and appreciate our blessings, how we handle our resources, and the impact we will have on the lives of the people around us.
Let’s live with glad and generous hearts this week.