If I Only Had a Heart

One of my Christmas gifts was The Wizard of Oz video. It’s been years since I last saw the movie, and one quote jumped out at me. The Wizard says to the Tin Man:

“A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others” (1:32).

As much as I like the movie, that’s certainly an unbiblical idea. Jesus told His disciples:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

The Apostle John added this explanation:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:7-11).

So, in opposition to what the Wizard believed, what matters most is that God first loved us and thus we are both enabled and commanded to love others regardless of what they may think about us. Jesus went on to say,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:43-44).

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you… If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:27, 32).

Our culture excels at loving those who love us and agree with us, but don’t let any hint of conflict arise or all bets are off. It doesn’t seem to matter whether there are marriage vows or church membership covenants—love, as we understand it, goes out the window. But that is to ignore God’s command to love even our enemies. Love is not mere tolerance of others, nor approving of sin. It is showing grace and compassion that yearns for others to find reconciliation with God and man through Jesus Christ. In C.S. Lewis’s words, “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained” (The Problem of Pain).

But if we’re honest, none of us love others as we should. There are people who irritate us, people we hope never to meet in the grocery store, and perhaps even people who would consider us their enemies. We can’t love people by our own strength or willpower, but the solution is not to go looking for a heart or looking for people who already love us. We need to continually turn to God and ask Him to keep growing the fruit of the Spirit in us, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

I realize this has been a recurring theme in many of my blogs, but it’s also a recurring theme in Scripture. Love appears over 200 times in the New Testament alone, so it must be pretty important to God, who is Himself Love. This year “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24).

“May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Victory!

For some time now I’ve been thinking about enemies, though probably not the way some people do. In reading through the Psalms in the past, I’ve tended to think that the many references to enemies don’t really apply to us. Most of us don’t have someone actively trying to kill us. But when we remember that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV), it’s clear that we do have an enemy working against us and seeking to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8).

That reality brings greater meaning and encouragement from verses such as these:

• Psalm 59:10 – “My God in His steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.”
• Psalm 92:11 – “My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.”
• Psalm 143:12 – “And in Your steadfast love You will cut off my enemies, and You will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am Your servant.”

Charles Stanley makes this comment in his book Handle with Prayer:

“As Satan sows seeds of disunity throughout the church, many of God’s people find themselves in conflict with each other. These conflicts are usually never resolved because nobody deals with the real enemy—Satan. There is no way to win a battle if we don’t know who our enemy is. And because our real enemy is a spiritual being, the only way we can really deal with him is on our knees.”

The same principle applies to all sorts of conflict, from family discord to war in the Middle East. All conflict can be traced back to the roots of sin caused by the tempter. It may take some effort to retrain our thinking, because we’re so used to blaming people for everything that happens. That’s not to absolve people from all sin, but to give a little more grace to those who irritate us even though they are doing the best they can. It’s easy to let little things ruin our day when they don’t have to. It would be a far better use of our time and energy to pray for someone (whether a child, coworker or congressman) than to gripe about them, but that doesn’t come naturally.

Whatever shape our battles take in this life, petty squabbles or all-out war, we know that the real enemy has already been defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sin and death no longer have the victory, and one day we will be able to look in triumph on the enemy. Easter is a vital reminder of “the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:19-21).

May this Easter be a celebration of our freedom in Christ and His victory over the enemy!

 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” –Hebrews 2:14-15