This verse made me so incredible happy and relieved! "For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." Freaking sweet! That's what that is.
It's so hard to figure out what to do next. You have decisions upon decisions upon decisions. Some are quite small and some are rather unsettling with their size. But it tells us God is greater than our hearts. Even if we mess up, even if we end up doing something wrong, it says we can be at rest. I'm game with that! I mean yeah, it's not saying do what you want and don't worry about being punished...that's definitely the sad and all-to-wrong man's translation. But it's saying that we are human; when our hearts remind us we are wrong, listen to them but be at rest knowing it's a reminder, it's not condemning us to hell.
Do not love with word or tongue but with actions and in truth. I like that. To me, it goes back the ever so popular "I love you" phrase that we humans enjoy passing around as if it's a good wine. Stop worrying about being able to proclaim love! True love will be known through what you do because of it! A little earlier in verse 16 it says "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." Dude. That is love in every sense of the word. That blows our Webster definitions out of the water! God sent his Son for us!
I was given the awesome opportunity to spend the weekend with a group from OAFC (Ongoing Ambassadors For Christ). Saturday, I joined them while they went canvasing through the neighborhood surrounding Emmaus. We went door-to-door asking people to share their knowledge of Jesus. It was really neat to see so many people in this neighborhood who knew of him! However, it opened my eyes when I learned that a vast majority had not even heard of Emmaus....which is the huge building right smack dab in the middle of their neighborhood. It reminded me of something else; I, a Christian, could have a cross necklace on, a Bible in hand, and be placed in a room full of people, but no one would notice me if I just stood there. I would have to reach out, talk to them, interact with them. In the same way a church must reach out and interact. A church is not an establishment! It's a people! And this verse really helps me understand that we can show all of these people love and share with them the good news, without yanking them into the church building.
This verse spoke to me on both a personal level and as a member of a suffering congregation. I was reminded of the old saying "If it looks like a ____, smells like a ____, then it is a ____." Haha. I see it a reminder to be a Christian all around. Not just someone who shows up in church but someone who needs to work on the whole picture.
What did you get out of this verse?
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