If there is one prayer for my beautiful wife that I find myself returning to on a regular basis it is this, that her heart would reflect the heart of the Lord. I ask for her safety, for her growth, for her ability to serve as a profitable servant, but I always return to this one prayer for her, that her heart would reflect Christs’. I can think of no better supplication on my part for her, for it is what I would consider the finest way for any woman to be.
Men are conquerors, we go out each day, kill something, and drag it home for supper, we search out challenges, for without a challenge we feel useless, and for me personally, there are no challenges left of the world that entice me, to know the mind of Christ, to seek the face of God, to serve Him without hesitation, these are the challenges I have put before myself. Most challenges of the world are, if one applies themself to them, quite easy, the problem is time, the limited amount of time that we each have before we leave this mortal shell behind. If I had, say, three hundred years or so, I could probably be a great surgeon, or a physicist, but as it stands, with the three score and ten years (Psalm 90:10) that we have been blessed with, give or take, we must concentrate on much fewer experiences than what we might like.
My wife’s heart will never be completely a total reflection of our Lords, not in this life or the next, and so the challenge, if you will, is eternal, and well worth applying one’s self to. The simplest verses in the Scriptures are the ones that begin to lead us on these paths, for my lovely wife in this area it would be, “Love thy neighbor as thy self,” (Mark 12:31) or perhaps “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) There is no great theological course that can teach us to love as our Savior did and continues to, it can only come to a willing heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can study about the subject of love all you want to, but you will never experience it unless you act upon it, and that requires two important factors, you must be humble, and you must trust.
“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” (Prov. 18:12) If there is one type of person that everyone honors on this planet it is those who show selfless love, a love that seeks for absolutely nothing in return. It was not a reward for Christ to have all things at His feet, it was not a prize that He was offered, to sit at the right hand of the Father if He came down here and offered Himself as sacrifice for us all, these were His from eternity past, He did so out of love, a love for us and a desire to do nothing of Himself, only to glorify the Father. He knew trust, we have to experience it, and the Lord is more than merciful to us in this area, He repeatedly shows us in numerous ways that He is and always will be trustworthy.
It is why trust is the other necessary factor, no one loves anyone that they do not trust completely, not the type of love that we are contemplating here, for this trust gives all love without considering the possible consequences to itself, it is completely selfless in its actions, words, and deeds.
I believe that one of the greatest trials, if you will, of our sanctification is not only turning from the world, the transforming of our minds, (Romans 12:2) but the love that the world cannot comprehend being a part of our nature. Love, care, compassion, concern, all without any desire for reciprocation from the receiver. Please do not mistake my words here, but if the Lord Jesus knew for a fact that not one person would come to Him in faith after the cross, and the Father still asked Him to go, He would have. Total, complete, selfless love.
If my lovely wife’s heart can reflect only one/one millionth of the heart of Christ in this life, she will know more about His love than I could ever hope to.
