Honesty time: I woke up not feeling in the mood to “be love” this morning. My mind immediately focused on a moment of frustration I had last night. . . the kind of moment when I write three drafts of an email, decide each version is too pointedly critical, and then end up replying with a very short, generic email. Crisis averted.

At the same time, since we’re in the month of February (the month of love), the blogs and daily verses I read are all about loving because Christ first loved me. 

Ouch.

I share this with you to show that even as I write about being love, I struggle with it. For goodness’ sake, I had multiple ways one-line zingers to put in those emails. I’m in the journey with you. It’s a daily decision, a daily choice to follow God’s command to love one another. And as I study it and live it, I find that it all boils down to the condition of my heart. The conditions of our hearts matter – they are the source of our thoughts, our behaviors, and our intentions. These matters of the heart directly impact how we are love to those around us.

We read about this in Matthew 15:18-19 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (ESV). Wow, our hearts can be messed up. These undesirable actions don’t come from our minds, but from our hearts. And these actions might be simmering without us even being aware of it.

It is a choice

There came a time during the Israelites’ journey into the Holy Land when they had to choose who they would serve (Joshua 24:14-28). I love when Joshua declares, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (verse 15b). Joshua made a choice, the Israelites made a choice, and we make a choice. And if we choose to serve the Lord, then we value Him as our treasure. And as Jesus says in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

It takes action

Psalm 15:1-3 ESV “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend.”

It takes intentionality

Psalm 16:8-10 ESV “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” Proverbs 17:22 ESV