A Crucified Life - - Reciprocates Love

 

2 Corinthians 6:13

As a fair exchange, I ask you as my children: Open wide your hearts also.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 

Exchange: recompense, retribution

From the Greek word 'antimisthia' (pronounced an-tee-mis-thee'-ah): proportionate reward; matching compensation (which can be pleasant or painful).

    Having reprimanded them for their lack of love and support to Paul and his companions, he now encourages them 'open wide their hearts' and reciprocate the same love he has shown them. He wants them to exchange their unloving hearts for hearts that love the way they're supposed to love.

    Not just a show of love, either, but real true love which begins in the heart. If the heart of the believer is not loving people the way God wants them to be loved, then that heart is not right with God and needs to repent, that it might be forgiven and love anew. 

    What could happen if we truly opened wide our hearts instead of our mouths? Open wide, enlarge, expansion to receive, to make  room for love, the agape form of love which is divine love, which needs a home and that home is our hearts. 

    Let us ask God to have His way in us, in our hearts. Let us come to Him even now, seeking to be active in His kingdom, divinely loving each other the way God loves us. Faithfully. Actively. Willingly. 

    It's the heart of the Father saying, "Love Me the way I love you". Open wide our hearts to receive the Love of the Father - Jesus Christ - that we may be able to fully love like God loves us. Feel that tug on your heart? That's the Spirit of God calling you into God's favor, God's grace.

 Open wide.

RECIPROCATING LOVE

Start A Fire - Unspoken

Build Your Kingdom - Rend Collective

Love Each Other - Graham Kendrick

Jesus Got Ahold of My Life - Dallas Holm

We Will Stand - Russ Taff

    

A Crucified Life - - Speaks Freely

 

2 Corinthians 6:11

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 455

Speak Freely: to be or stand openly

From the Greek word 'anoigó' (pronounced an-oy'-go): speak freely, keeping nothing back.

    

    In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul reminds them that he has shared his sufferings and his joys with them, keeping nothing from them that they might share in not only these but also in the rewards of faithfulness. As Paul had written to the church in Rome, Romans 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." 

    We who believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation are the church. Not in our name but in His Name. For we are also God's children, brothers and sisters in Christ and of Christ Jesus. We obtain this inheritance of glory through the sufferings of Christ. 

    What one believer suffers, all believers suffer. We are not alone. We may be on different continents, live in varying cities and towns, but we are all one in Christ. What one goes through, all go through. 

    When one of us goes through the fire, we all go through the fire. When one of us gets slandered, we all get slandered. When one of us is persecuted for the Name of Christ, all of us are persecuted for His Name's sake. 

    Having been called to suffer, why do so many persist in believing that persecution is not theirs to bear? That it belongs in some remote part of the world? Technically, we are all in remote parts of the world. And as much as the internet brings many together, it also separates. It is both a blessing and a curse. 

    But the sharing to which Paul alludes is of a much higher sharing in of: it is the cross of Christ which brings us all to His feet, it is the Suffering Servant Who makes us joint-heirs with Him by our belief in His Name for our salvation. 

    It is the blood of Christ which washes away our sins, changing us from sinners guilty of eternal damnation to saints worthy of an eternal inheritance. It is the grace of God extended to a lost and dying people that redeems us back to Him, making us found and alive in Christ. 

    It is the mercy of God through the obedience of His only begotten Son that is shown to each and every person time after time after time. We who believe receive such salvation, grace and mercy to the everlasting benefit of our souls. Do you believe?

    And now, let me speak freely. God loves us. God loves us so much He can't bear to leave us like He found us. So God changes the person who believes in His only begotten Son into a resemblance of His Son, so that when He looks at us, He sees only a reflection of His Son. He's not looking at unwashed, unglazed pottery any more. He's transformed us into a useable vessel to be of service in some form or fashion in His house. 

    I must ask you, Does God see Jesus in you? 

     

SPEAKING FREELY 

Refiner - Maverick City Music

Glorious Ruins - Hillsong Live

No Way, We Are Not Ashamed - Carman

The Worth of Knowing You - Austin Bratton

Alive In You - Jesus Culture

Do They See Jesus In Me - Jessell Dawn Mahinay