Heart and Mind

The toughest thing for people to do, the hardest hill to climb, the thorniest obstacle to overcome — I’m talking worldwide — is for human beings to truly love one another from the heart. Whether you’re in the church or not, every last one of us has the same challenge. God forgive us for failing to embody the heart and mind of Christ!

One of the main reasons why we struggle to love people the way the Almighty wants us to love is this: our thinking is all messed up. We think about our needs, our desires, and our agendas first. And, out of the arrogance of our hearts, we think we’re pretty hot stuff when we occasionally display little kindnesses toward others. It’s like the first time Miss Kay and I agreed to feed a bunch of people down here at the river. I was a young believer and we were trying to love on ’em by putting into practice the words of 1 Peter 4:9: “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”

So we laid out a spread of food, invited folks, and received company in droves. I was feeling pretty good about my hospitality — until they were eating like a pack of hungry coyotes. Then I immediately started inwardly grumbling about how much it was going to cost me to feed all those people. But the words of 1 Peter 4:9 convicted me anew because ol’ Peter inserted those two pesky words in there — “without grumbling.” My attempt to practice love and hospitality had nearly gone out the window because in my mind I had failed to remember that it was I who should be grateful for having enough to share. Have you ever done that?

I’ve heard people talk about how they spent two hundred dollars on a meal for some family in need at a restaurant, or how they dropped seventy-five dollars on food so they could treat someone to a family dinner at home — only to complain about how their guests ate and ran without so much as a thank you. So now they’ve stopped looking for ways to extend charity to others.

Listen, if you ever start weighing the cost of practicing hospitality, or if you’re waiting around for others to give you a big ol’ thank you, you’ve missed the point of love. What’s more, thoughts like that reveal that we have a heart of stone and not of flesh. For my sake, I asked the Almighty to forgive my pride and arrogance. I asked Him to give me a new heart. These days I don’t care whether or not you thank me, or what an act of love will cost me. I know God will give me the heart I need to love you — with no strings attached.

Taken from The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible