The Christmas season is
definitely upon us and as we celebrate with all of the lights and fancy
decorations and gifts and packages, many people will reflect on the Christ
Child. The One whose birth is recognized on December 25th. We see
nativity scenes regularly and there are singing Christmas trees
and carolers and concerts. Many children participate in
Christmas programs at churches and schools all over the country. When the
telling of the birth of Jesus Christ is done in whatever form it is a prime
time for His invitation to us to believe and receive Him as redeemer. He
is called the Prince of Peace, and Emmanuel which means "God with
us." The story goes on further through His life of ministry and then
His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection. He then ascended into
heaven and the 3rd "person" of the Trinity was given to us on earth
in a new way. Fantastic! Where is this going?
After the message of
Jesus is preached or brought before a group of people, the invitation is often
stated, "If anyone would like to invite Jesus into their heart, the altar
is open." Of course that is not the exact wording used every time by
every minister of the Gospel, but the part that gets me is, "Jesus into
... heart." I'm not saying that anyone using this terminology is
wrong, but where is that in the Bible? We laugh at young ones who've just
been taught about this when they ask how Jesus got into their hearts, but
really is that such a silly question? I don't think so. After
working as an ICU nurse with cardiologists, I've gotten to know a little bit
about hearts and that analogy, if taken literally, is just nonsense!
I don't know where that
phrase came from and I'm not going to look it up. Wikipedia is not my
source of revelation. At this point, I'm not even going to say that the
origin of the phrase is important. As I was doing devotions with my
children this morning, Holy Spirit gave me a new look at this phrase.
Interestingly I never said this phrase, but reading John 3:1-21 made me
contemplative. As Nicodemus asked Jesus if he was to climb into his
mother's womb to be "born again," I began to contemplate the terms we
use to become, "saved."
First of all, the heart
is a muscle. It is a unique muscle with its own kind of tissue, cardiac
muscle. The cells are different from any other muscle type in the body.
It's function is to pump life to the body in the form of oxygen (working
with the lungs) and pump death from the body in the form of carbon dioxide.
Because of its design, no other muscle in the body can complete that
function. Well, that is amazing! So if I ask Jesus to come into my
heart, I'm asking for life to come in and death to leave? That is one way
to look at it. The Bible says that no one can come to the Father except
through the Son. There is no sacrament, human or anything that can
replace Jesus. John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.’”
The part that really
intrigued me the most this morning, though, was not the physical heart.
It was the heart shape as one would cut out and give to someone on
Valentine's Day. In this case, a heart is a symbol for love. So in
other words, maybe we could be asking Jesus to, "Come into my love."
Woah! Now that stirs up so much new perspective for me. The first
and greatest command is to, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, all
your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Mark 12:30 NLT. So if I were to have Jesus come into my love,
I’m inviting Him in so that I can love Him with all of my being. I’ve heard of Jesus calling us to come into
His love, but us inviting Him to come into our love is mind-blowing. It is a big thing to do.
My son shared something
that he heard on the radio from Doctor Greg Laurie. I can’t give more reference than that because
I don’t know when it was and this might not be the premise he was teaching on
either. From Revelation 3:20 Jesus said,
“ I stand at the door and knock.” Well
if we let him in to our living room and then leave him there alone while we
have dinner in the other room, we are letting him in to our dwelling, but not
into our love. He wants to come in and
dine with us and have a relationship with us.
He wants to come into our love.
When we go to the store, if we leave Him in our living room, we are not
bringing His light with us either. Now
think of this… when we add His love to our love, it is magnified and if I have
Him in my love, my actions and attitude changes toward everything.
Some people might think
it strange if they, “ask Jesus into their love,” and don’t feel anything. Yes, there is such a thing as love at first
sight, but not everyone experiences that.
In the “good ole days” sometimes a marriage was for convenience or arranged
by someone. The Janette Oke book, Love
Comes Softly, has a great example of that.
Love grows as a relationship is built.
There are many people who become born again who feel God’s love so
strongly that upon their decision, they do feel love toward Jesus. Others (I would classify myself here) have
followed Christ since childhood and do not recognize that love right away. Still others just don’t feel anything. I told my kids this morning that I loved them
from the moment I knew they were growing inside of me, but the more time I
spend with them the more I love them. It
is the same as we develop a relationship with Christ Jesus. The more we worship, the more we read the
Bible or Word of God, the more we pray, the more love we feel toward God.
I John 1:9 says, “But
anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” John 14 21 says, “Those who accept my
commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love
them. And I will love them and reveal
myself to each of them.” So in order to
obey His commands, I need to know them.
To know them I need to read them and meditate on them. Knowing Him is loving Him and loving Him is
knowing Him.
I’ve asked Jesus to be
my Savior and I’ve asked Him, “into my heart.”
I’ve confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart
that God raised Him from the dead as Romans 10:9 instructs. Today, I want Jesus to come into my love.
