Unchanging Heart
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September 27, 2015 |
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 "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
To lead a good Christian life, we need faith, hope, and love. Only with faith can we receive salvation and please God. Only with hope for Heaven can we take hold of the best dwelling place in Heaven, New Jerusalem by force. Foremost of all is love for only when we have love can we become God's true children.
The ultimate purpose for God to create men and let them experience this earthly life is the love. God wants to gain true children with whom He can share love forever, and to the extent that we achieve the unchanging heart with love we can receive amazing blessings. Then, what kind of heart is the unchanging heart?
1. The heart that loves God foremost of all without changing
Jesus said the foremost commandment as Mark 12:30 says, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Many forefathers of faith did not spare even their own lives because they loved God first. It is because they experienced the love of God who came to them first and gave His only begotten Son for sinners as recorded in 1 John 4:19, "We love, because He first loved us."
I also experienced His love, and God became everything to me. I began to pray and worship with true heart, though nobody told me to do so. I looked for conditions for thanksgiving to give thanks offerings. I tried to give more to God. Also, because I loved God and the Lord I took care of the flock entrusted to me by the Lord with my life. I gave my wife and three daughters to God as pastors and a worker for His kingdom. I considered my flock more precious than my own family members.
When the whole church went through great trials, I kept the flock and church praying to God with all my strength. If God commanded me to accomplish something, I obeyed only with 'Yes' and 'Amen' although there were life-threatening situations.
It's been far more than 30 years since I met God, but I have never thought anything was overwhelming for me. Even the worldly people are willing to do anything for their partners when they love each other passionately. In the same way, if we love God foremost of all, we will never feel what we may do is wasted effort even if we were to give all our possessions and even our lives.
Since I first met God, my life-giving love has never cooled down nor has it stayed the same. My love for God and the Lord has only grown more fervent.
Then, how is your love for God? Do you truly love God first without any changing of your mind? Are there any of you who are living just like the worldly people with lukewarm faith and compromising with the world even though you once loved God earnestly and worked for him diligently? Or have you established your first priority as a successful life or the love for your family members before that of God?
As Proverbs 8:17 reads, "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me." To those who love God first, He will pour down His overflowing love. He will certainly show the evidence of His love that He loves us very much. If we need health or wealth or anything, He will give to us according to our needs, and He will even let us manifest His great power.
2. The heart to trust God's love without changing in any kind of situation
If we passionately love God, He will definitely return that love back to us. If we experience those evidences of God's love, our faith will grow and we will be more filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can lead a more passionate Christian life. But some change their mind when they go through trials although they led fervent Christian lives.
The joy on their face disappears and they complain. They weep with sorrow and wonder why they have to go through such trials. Moreover, some people forsake their faith and go back to the world. But if you truly love God, you can never do that.
In Acts chapter 16, Apostle Paul was beaten severely for preaching the gospel and was put into the inner prison. Since he was jailed with his body covered with blood, the pains only got worse. He didn't know whether he would be beaten again or whether he would be released. Nothing was sure for him. What would you do if you were in his shoes? Wouldn't you complain saying, "I have worked with devotion for the Lord. But why do these difficulties happen to me?"
Paul did not complain about his pain or become saddened, but praised God from his deep heart. This praise moved God's heart and the doors of the prison were opened by an earthquake (Acts 16:25-26).
The apostle Paul could be assured that since he loved God so much, in return, God loved him very much too. He did not doubt God's love who had given His only begotten Son and had been answering his prayers. Even though he was beaten and chained, he believed there was the providence of God in it. Even though he was in hardship or a life-threatening situation, his confidence in God loving him was never shaken.
It is the case with me too. As a layman member as well as a pastor, my way was not easy at all. Sometimes, it seemed that the things I accomplished by devoting all my life were going to be destroyed in a moment. There were also times of such difficult trials that I just wanted to go to be at the side of the Lord.
But even in difficulties like death itself, I never spoke a word of complaint or resentment. In fact, I didn't even have a complaining heart. Did Jesus, the Son of God, complain when He forsook all the glory of heaven and took the cross? No.
Jesus tried to comfort the heart of God who felt sad for Jesus' sufferings. Jesus voluntarily took the way of sufferings in thought of the love of God. Thinking about this Jesus, how could I dare to complain or express any resentment? No matter what kind of hardship I faced, I believed that the way was the way of blessings and the way to accomplish God's providence, so that I only prayed with thanks. Because I worried that God would be sad if I were having a hard time due to trials, I tried to please Him confessing, "I can overcome all these things. Fulfill Your will through me and receive all the glory."
How did you act when you faced trials in your life? Some people recklessly express words of doubt, complaining, and resentment although they used to sing praises of thanksgiving with their lips.
What God wants from us is not the faith of a child with which you are happy when things go as you want but complain when you don't get what you want. He wants us to have the mature faith of a father whose love and trust doesn't change even in any hardship and who understands the depth of God's heart.
Only when we accomplish this trust with God can we share our love with God like a friend as Abraham and Moses did. Then, God will walk with you and show you the evidence that He loves you.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when our love is truthful and never changes, God also can love us with truthful love. If we have a problem He will solve it, and He will fulfill the desires of our heart and prove His love with blessings and glory.
I pray in the name of the Lord that by achieving this unchanging heart you will receive answers and blessings and glorify God.
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