Opening Our Hearts
By Julia Loria
What does it mean to open our hearts? How can we? How do we know if there is room for Christ? I thought I had Jesus in the center of my life, but He was truly way in the outfield.
A while ago I had my heart broken. My heart and soul was completely emptied of the person who had it, and it was immediately completely filled and overflowing with the peace of Christ. Never in my life had I experienced something like this. It was such an incredible feeling- knowing I should be feeling shattered, but actually feeling like my heart was bursting with love. It wasn’t until I heard Sarah Swafford speak at SEEK 2019 that I understood. She phrased it perfectly:
“Jesus desires to love you like no human being can. He has given man and woman to each other to be a sign of His love, but that love doesn’t replace our need for His love. In the same way, no man or woman can be your savior; and trying to make someone your Savior can actually ruin that relationship. It’s not possible; no one is capable of being “your everything” or being your god. It’s too heavy of a burden; your significant other will break under the weight and pressure, and when they inevitably fall short, you will be disappointed.”
Our hearts are not infinite capacity. We do not have endless room in our hearts. If we fill our hearts with too many worldly things, there is no room for Jesus. How do we know if there’s room for Jesus? If we know that we love something in this world more than we love Jesus, that’s a sign. In my case, what was taking up the number one spot in my life was drained from my heart without my doing, and there was instantly an abundant amount of room for Jesus to come in, if I let Him. That’s not the case for everyone…some of us need to make the decision to release something from our hearts and invite Jesus in.
Nothing in this world, whether it be a person, place, or thing, will ever satisfy us like Jesus can. Everything in this world has the potential to disappoint us, but Jesus would never let our hearts hit the ground. Our God never changes in His intentions, but rather He just wants to be part of our lives. If you don’t think there’s room for Him in your heart, I encourage you to make room, which often can only happen when we say no to something else. I promise you, if you truly open up your heart to Him, He will fill you with His grace and you will experience Him. It is so worth it.