You Want to Put What, Where? 

“…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God (our Father) has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us”.

    Romans 5:5

This is such a problematic passage. For some reason I chuckle when I read this text because of the way Scripture continually offers the same invitation. The invitation is to enter a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in which They pour out love in our hearts. I think I “laugh” because of the simplicity of the message and how much we struggle to accept it.  

Let me count the problems… 

1. God wants to be our Father – We transition from the godblob into Trinitarian clarity and can be vexed by the glorious miracle that God wants to be our Dad! And He delights in us being His sons and daughters. A simply marvelous reality but one that can take a long while to rest in. To draw peace from the reality that you are a cared for child of the Heavenly Father. Moses says of our Father in Deuteronomy 1:30-31,  

“The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.”  

2. Our Father wants to pour out love – Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. LOVE. Ah, can we struggle with love. There is the mess of what love actually is – is it just any two people who care for one another? Is it just lifetime commitment? Is it gooey? Is it an ongoing choice? I have heard many a preacher say that the highest form of love in the Greek language is called agape. And agape love is all about self-sacrifice. It is not emotional. It is a choice. To which I say, “YUCK.”  

Is agape love self-sacrifice? Yes. Is it loyal? Yes. Is it committal? Even unto death. But to say it is not emotional is just wrong. Agape may not be defined by, and is certainly not led by feeling, but agape is tremendously, emotionally full! Agape includes affection and desire and warmth and excitement! While receiving the loyalty of love may be something with which we struggle, most of us will absolutely struggle with receiving the affection of agape. Yet, the Apostle Paul declares that our Father pours out His affection and His joy and His excitement, all components of agape, into our hearts! 

Recently, I was thinking about how much I LOVE my daughter Claire. I thought about how there is no one else on Earth who loves her as much as me, other than Brooke.  Then I thought about the blessed truth that my Father loves her way more than I do. THEN I thought…that is how much He loves me!  

Easy to say…hard to receive. Hard to draw from daily. But so FULL of LIFE. 

3. Our Father wants to pour out love into our hearts – He wants to put what…where? LOVE into our hearts. And He wants to POUR it in! Wow. Yet how many of us live with guarded, or even closed off, hearts? The heart is too wounded. The hands are too busy to deal with messy heart things. The head is too busy getting filled with head things.  

Excuses abound.  

Nevertheless, the target of our Father’s pouring is in the heart! FLING WIDE the doors of our hearts because our Father has proven Himself to be safe and tender. He has proven that what He deposits is LIFE and not death…HOPE and not despair. You may not be able to trust anyone with your heart but will you consider trusting Him? Will you consider learning how to become emotionally unconstrained, without hesitation, in His presence? 

The LIFE possibilities, what can blossom in you, is amazing! 

4. He wants to pour out His love through the Holy Spirit – The Holy Spirit! How is your relationship/intimacy/awareness with Him? He is just as much God as our Father is and Jesus is. Paul writes in Romans 15:30, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit…” This is the only verse in Scripture, that I know of, that speaks directly to the Holy Spirit’s love for us. So, the Holy Spirit is a Person just as much as the Father and Jesus. Therefore, He feels, thinks, acts, has personality, and everything else consistent with an individual. And He, the Holy Spirit, loves you. As our Father’s instrument of conveying LIFE, He delightfully, powerfully delivers love.  

What is your reaction to intimacy with the Spirit? How much freedom does He have in your life to move as He pleases? What are your hesitations/fears/uncertainties? Can you breathe, surrender, and pray, “Holy Spirit I give you freedom to do whatever to me as you’d like according to our Father’s will and leading in Jesus’s name!”?  

Life lived FULL of the perfect love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit would truly be electric. Our Father gave His Son to pay for our stupidity and selfishness SO THAT He could pour our His LOVE in our hearts! He is not a tyrant. He is not mean. He is not cold. He is not maniacal. He is truth. He is just. He is good. He is beyond. He is power. And, in all things for all people, He is………….LOVE.  

May we open our hearts wide today to freely receive all He wants to pour!  

We run God’s race in the OVERFLOW of His love and faithfulness. We run full, filled, and at rest! May your day, and your steps, be blessed as we run His race together.