The welcoming heart - Hope 103.2

The welcoming heart

By David ReayWednesday 16 Mar 2016LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes

Transcript:

Read Philippians 2:3-4

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (NIV)

Let’s say someone you care about asks to stay a short while in your house. You tell them it is not possible. The house is too cluttered, there is no room. So much is going on in your house that there can be no space for such a visitor.

Now let’s apply that picture to our relationships in general. My life and my heart may be utterly consumed with my personal anxieties and preoccupations. My own agenda is such that I can’t fit anything or anyone else in. Or it could be that my anger and resentments fill my heart. In any such case, there is no room in our hearts for the visitor, the stranger, or even those we know and love.

I have built a wall around myself so that others can’t get in. It is not as if I am a bad or uncaring person; it is just that my own affairs have crowded my heart to such a degree that there is no empty space for others.

Beware of excess busyness, anxiety, fear, resentment. We get turned in on ourselves and may miss out on those divine appointments God has in mind for us. Our cluttered hearts and lives rob us of the blessing of others and rob them of our blessing.

Blessings
David Reay