A JOYFUL HEART LOVES OTHERS

A joyful heart is like medicine. ( Proverbs 17:22)

Our hearts are intricate organs that sit at the center of our chests. They keep us alive daily by pumping blood throughout our bodies as our heart beats. It sends blood, which provides oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body while carrying away unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products. (NHSInform.Scot).

A happy and joyful heart is like medicine. We must agree with the Psalmist David that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139.4). We serve a God who took the time to ensure that He gives us everything that we need in our bodies to function and live a healthy life. From our lungs that give us the air we breathe, our digestive organs that provide nourishment from the food we eat and our excretory organs, which play a vital role in removing toxic wastes from our bodies. We would not exist for long without the function of our hearts. Hence, we cannot help but serve God with a heart of gratitude, appreciation, thankfulness, and love. 

We were given this amazing gift of life, therefore; it behoves us to think about what our hearts go through daily to sustain us. To show our appreciation, we should take it easy on our hearts by being kind to others. God gave us hearts to love and cherish each other, not to destroy them with cruel hate, bitterness and unforgiveness. When we are nasty, mean, unforgiving and unkind, we not only hurt other people’s hearts but ours too. Because the heart is the seat of all emotions, unhealthy thoughts place undue stress on our hearts, and they literally become hardened and restrict the flow of blood, which can cause blockages and result in death and disability. 

Let us choose to forgive the way God has forgiven because to those of us who were given more of us, more is expected, especially those of us who are believers. Our lives are unhappy because we do not love the way God asks us to love Him with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27). Let your heart be at the center of everything you do. Serve with joy and gladness. This makes our hearts happier, and a happy heart means a longer life. Since you have it in your power to protect your heart, why don’t you adopt a gentler approach when dealing with others? After all, we are one in Christ and there is no segregation, discrimination, or annihilation. He is a God of love, justice, and equity for all His children, which includes you, me, and everyone on this planet.  He created us to be a community to help those who are helpless, poor, needy, anxious, afraid, or lost their way. Let us emulate the love of God in our lives today and let others see your heart in everything you do. 

I challenge you today to give someone a giant hug today. It could be a spouse, friend, family member or just a total stranger. Let your heart touch someone else’s heart today and let them feel that life force of abundant love flowing from your heart to theirs.

As you contemplate your life and God’s plans for you. May you find love, hope and encouragement in the words of this old hymn below, which I believed were spoken directly by God to Horatius Bonar in 1861 as he marvelled and reflected on GOD and the wonder of His love for us.

O love of God, how strong and true!

Eternal, and yet ever new:

Uncomprehended and unbought,

Beyond all knowledge and all thought

O love of God, how deep and great!

Far deeper than man’s deepest hate;

Self-fed, self kindled, like the light,

Changeless, eternal, infinite.

O wide embracing, wondrous love!

We read thee in the sky above,

We read thee in the earth below,

In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

O love of God, how strong and true!

We read thee best in Him who came

To bear for us the cross of shame:

Sent by the Father from on high,

Our life to live, our death to die.