In our hearts is where love and life starts

People commonly want to show us how impressive their minds are.  But how rare is it that a person would wow us with their heart?

What’s central to this discussion is, of course, the heart of Henri Nouwen, who gave us this:

“What makes us human is not our mind,
BUT OUR HEART,
Not our ability to think but our ability
TO LOVE.”
—Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932 – 1996)

The heart inspires, transforms, and transcends.  It’s where the heroism is.  It’s the Volodymyr Zelenskyy effect.  It’s the Ash Barty influence.  It’s what moves us to action, to courage, to hope, to gallantry; the heart.

The only power worth pledging to in this life is the humanity that beats strongly in our hearts, but everyone is tempted to grasp their share of power, one that harms.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

In effect, could Paul be saying that the essence of life is to love, that to prefer the mind over the heart is to miss the point of life?  Could he be saying knowledge serves the individual, whereas love serves others?

We live in a world that constantly wants to parade its intellectual prowess and achievement.  Such a method for ‘success’ inevitably sucks us in.  But it delivers little.  It’s a shallow victory.

It’s better by far to resist the temptation to exhibit our cerebral wares, that benefits only ourselves, and to prefer instead to give what cannot be returned to us.

An interesting thing happens when we do this, however.  Somehow, it’s a hugely cathartic exercise.  The more we give our heart away, the more we stand to be blessed in our innermost parts.

I want to finish this short article by quoting Dane Ortlund:

“The deepest way to know a professing Christian’s actual theology is not to ask them which historic confession they subscribe to but to watch how they treat other people.”

A person who lives through their heart is a person who casts all their prospects toward the common good.  They covet nothing, always preferring compassion over conquest.  Their vulnerability invites others in.  Those who live through their heart are, in themselves, a safe place for others to come and connect.  They offer the hospitality that Henri Nouwen often spoke of.

Treating others as we would be treated (Matthew 7:12) takes Jesus seriously to the point that we’d prefer a loss over a win, when almost everyone else will ‘win’ and do so at our expense.

Think about it.  It’s always a better thing to be betrayed than to be the betrayer.  Doesn’t sound right, does it?  But it is better to be the wronged than be the wrongdoer.

It’s only the heart that truly understands the gospel who lives the gospel, and living the gospel is about giving up what we can’t keep so we can gain what we cannot lose.

Only the stuff of loving others lasts.  Only what cannot be kept lasts.  The more we practice this stuff of the heart, the more we’re spiritually blessed.

It’s incredibly simple yet powerful to love others.  We put them first, we’re quick to listen, to seek to understand, to serve, to give, to live at peace with our brother and sister.