A Sermon in a Word

I was just thinking this morning ……

I love words… I love how they LOOK as well as what they mean and sometimes what a word has to say to us is lost in familiarity of usage.

Like the word I was thinking of this morning .
Heart

The word starts with an H… the letter itself looks like a protective covering doesn’t it ?
H begins such words as house, home, haven, hut, hovel, habitation, hammock, hat, helmet, hood, hearth, hiding place, hive, hotel .
H points to things that protect, keep us safe, or where we 'live'.
Note the ‘H’s’ in the phrase .. “Home is where I Hang my Hat.”

The word Heart ends with a ‘t’ … looks like a tree… doesn’t it ? And a tree reminds us of a cross… a place of sacrifice …..demanding a price ( such as taxes… tears,… or test)

In between the H and the t in our little word Heart are three little letters than spell ‘ear’. The ear has but one function – that is to hear ! and how interesting that this little word should sit in the middle of the word heart.

Heart… where we live…. Relating to those we love. In our relationships, what is more important than to hear ? to listen?
If we do not listen we do not understand.....
if we do not understand, how can we truly love?
If we love with understanding how easy it is to sacrifice our own wants and desires choosing instead to ‘sacrifice’ ourselves for the sake of others.

I was thinking too of God’s first commandment….. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart..!” (Deut.6:5)

With all our heart…. From the core of our being… where we live… ‘where we hang our hat’. Our physical body cannot live without its heart organ …. It gives life to everything else.
So also what we love with our heart affects everything else we think or do.
What we 'shelter', what we 'love' in our heart determines WHO we are.

We are also called to sacrifice ourselves for Him.. to lay down our life for Him, for others.
Jesus says in Matt. 10:21 ”Take up the cross, and follow Me."

In loving God and taking up our cross to follow Him what is more important than anything else?
To ‘hear’ Him… Jesus cried out …. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matt. 11:15)
Unless we listen - we will not hear His voice , if we do not hear His voice - we will not understand Him and if we do not understand Him - we will not be able to follow Him.

Interesting, isn’t it ? how LOOKING at a word can preach its own sermon ??

Have a ‘h-ear-t’ day today , my dear friends, filled with love for God and the ones He placed in your life !
I LOVE you !