Happy Valentine's Day
February 14th
Opening Solo, The Message, I smiled as I looked at the title of Day 220's entry...Heartstrings.
Quite an appropriate title for Valentine's Day and totally by coincidence, as I am way off target in my reading (I should have finished December 31). The Lord obviously knew I'd be tempted to write about worldly love on this holiday, which my husband claims had to have been developed by Hallmark!
The scripture reading selected for this topic was Mark 10:17-22. To Enter God's Kingdom
As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother."He said, "Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!" Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.
"Jesus knows that though, the rich man is morally good, he still has strings attached to his heart that will keep him from being a devoted follower."
The author goes on to challenge us to take an inventory of our hearts and consider what things are deeply attached to our hearts and keep us from being dedicated followers of Jesus. (Possessions, relationships, thoughts, activities, etc.)
Further down in the passage in verse 27 Jesus has this to say to anyone who thinks they have a chance at getting into God's kingdom.
Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."
God's grace is the greatest Valentine we can receive.
Draw a heart somewhere and write inside of it...
"Jesus, will you be my Valentine? No strings attached."
