TODAY THE WORD IS HEARTY

 

TODAY THE WORD is HEARTY. It is still blizzard type weather in most regions in the country and we will be starting to see a little relief later this week. When I think about this kind of temperatures, warm, hearty food start to come to mind. My husband made some “hearty” chili and I saw on social media, one of my dear friends Evelyn made up her supply of vegetable soup. I make a delicious, “hearty” soup too and I plan on making it this weekend. The recipe makes quite a lot of the soup and usually I freeze several meals or I share with others, usually both. When I say “hearty”, does a stew, soup, chili, or goulash come to mind? If it does, you are right but I am going to take hearty in another direction this morning. So many times in life, we are faced with situations which challenge our hearts and even our souls. We see people we love making a lot of mistakes, and before we go judging, we should remember the times in our own lives how many times or mistakes have we made. As a close friend of mine said to me the other day, “We are sinners, even when we have been saved. We have to ask for forgiveness all of our lives.” This may sound, like what? I asked God to forgive my sins (remember these are past sins) and God forgave me. With our human nature, our short tempers, our tendency to judge which has to be fought, our uncharitable thoughts, and other human weaknesses we possess, we need to continue on our journey by asking for forgiveness each day. This is what I refer to as a “hearty salvation”. It is full of meaty, warm, comforting, and satisfying feelings and an ability to recognize no human is perfect and we do make mistakes. It is a “hearty” feeling to admit our weaknesses and ask for strength from God. Hearty means from the heart and I mean our internal link to our soul, our spirit instead of our beating heart. When God gives us the strength or courage to help, to witness, or to be an example for those we love, making mistakes or who haven’t found their way; God is giving us a “hearty” dish of His Love and Strength. It can be a “spoonful” of hearty amount of witnessing as to what God did for us may be the very thing to help another person change their diet of life. Give Heartiness to Others and it will taste good to your soul. Serve up a dish of God’s love and share with those in need of God’s redeeming love.

Ezekiel 36:26 – A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.