Half-Hearted Lovers
Half-Hearted Lovers
Imagine the scene: A man and a woman are discussing marriage. The man says, “Honey, I want to marry you; but I can only give you half of my heart. The other half is for my old girlfriends. I’ll only see them once in awhile....”
Of course, no woman in her right mind would agree to such a marriage. She would probably tell him to “Get lost!” Half - hearted lovers are a pain in the neck. Even worse, they are a pain in the heart.
Or witness the painful scene that is repeated so often in “soap opera” America: A man (or a woman) leaves their spouse, because they’ve “found someone else.” It is a heart breaking and painful scene, repeated day after day, week after week in our society.
The pain of a rejected love cuts to the depth of a person’s heart. A half - hearted lover ends up being worse than having no one, because a half - hearted lover will take advantage of your love and let you down in the end.......
But there is a God of love who will never leave you, and never stops loving you. He is always faithful, always full of compassion and mercy, always kind, always ready to forgive. His love is massive and bountiful!
God is certainly a “wholehearted” lover of people. His love is everlasting, trustworthy, and powerful. He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). His love will never fade away; it is pure and constant.
Yet, sadly, God has a problem with “half-hearted lovers,” too: People who claim to love Him, but have “other loves” that they really love more than God. How it must break God’s heart to see people pursuing other loves: gambling, pornography, drugs, money, sexual sin, power, greed; or a life that mostly revolves around “self.”
Someone who pursues these “other loves” has not even encountered the awesome and transforming power of God’s love. God’s love is experienced when you genuinely surrender your life to Christ, and put your complete trust in Him.
If you surrender your heart to Christ, you will discover a love that is pure, constant, and unfailing. If you’ve been hurt by someone who has pursued “other loves,” you can receive the healing love of Christ, which is a better love than any other kind of love in this world. It is the love of Christ that can heal the brokenhearted. Because this love from God is so pure and so precious, it cannot take “second place” to any other love, any more than a husband’s “old girl friends” can share the love of his precious bride.
Because God loves us with His whole heart, He also asks us to love Him with all of our heart. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is, “You shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, all of your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” (Mark12:30).
When you discover how much God loves you, it becomes easier and easier to love Him back. Ask Him to show you the fullness of His love. God is the source of our love, the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13). His love is the best, far beyond all that we could imagine.
Just as a husband and wife surrender their lives to each other, to love one another whole-heartedly and without any “other lovers,” so we must surrender our lives to Christ, to belong to Him forever. The decision to surrender to Christ is a decision to belong to Him forever. It is a genuine turning away from the “other lovers” and old habits of sin, to begin a new life in a relationship with Christ. He gives you a clean slate: complete forgiveness of your past sins, no matter what they may have been. You enter into a new, growing, and lifelong relationship with Christ.
Will you surrender your life to Christ today? Tell Him you want to truly belong to Him. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Then tell Him you are surrendering to Him as your Lord and Savior. Thank Him for dying for your sins, and rising again to be your Savior.
And remember: the world is full of half-hearted lovers, but don’t be a half-hearted lover of God. Give Him all of your heart!
God loved us first, before we had done anything to deserve it. God reveals his vast love for us in that while we were still far away and still sinners without hope, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). He died for us when we were far from God and had done nothing to deserve his love. He died for us so that we would live for him, in an all out surrender and commitment to live for Christ: "He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (2 Cor. 5:15 nasb). That is what it means to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. It means to live your life for Him, as your true Lord and Savior. A half-hearted lover will only use God to get what they want. That never works!
If you genuinly surrender your life to Christ, He fills you with his love and empowers you to live for Him as your Savior and Lord. He gives you all of the love, grace, and strength that you need to follow Christ and live for Him. If you ever stumble or make a wrong choice at some point in the future, the answer is to confess that sin to the Lord (1 John 1:9), receive His cleansing, and then turn away from that sin and leave it behind! Set your sights back on the Lord, and follow the One who died for you. He loves you and will empower you to walk in the path of genuine love. He gives you His forgiveness to strengthen you and to enable you to walk on that path of genuine love; love for God and love for people.
You may say, "I prayed a prayer once before; I received Christ once before, and it didn't work. Nothing seemed to change." Well, maybe you were trying to be a half-hearted lover of God. That never works. With genuine faith in Christ and genuine surrender to Christ, the entire allegiance of your life changes to live for Christ alone (and to love all other people through the power and love of Christ). The power of Christ transforms you. If you need to pray that full surrender of your life to Christ again, just do it! Do it until it becomes an obvious reality in your life. This is a faith surrender, a faith commitment to Christ that means a full surrender!
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If you are willing to surrender your life to Christ and commit your life to the path of following Christ, below is a prayer of surrender. Use this prayer as a guide for a genuine prayer of complete surrender to Christ. You can add your own words as well.
A Prayer of Surrender:
Dear Lord Jesus, please fill me with your love, and wash away all my sins. I completely surrender my heart and life to you. I ask you to receive me and make me whole.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins, to cleanse me and forgive me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me, to make me a child of God. I turn away from all my sins, with all my heart. Please cleanse me and forgive me, for all of my sins. (Here, name any specific sins in your life, reject them wholeheartedly, and turn away from them. Then, receive cleansing because God has promised to cleanse you).
I receive you, Lord Jesus, as the Lord and Savior of my life. I ask you to rule in my heart and life from now on. I ask you to fill me with your loving presence, and guard me with your divine protection.
I ask you to strengthen me and help me, to live for you from now on. I ask you to fill me with love so that I can love other people with a pure love. Fill me with love so that I can love you with all of my heart. (Continue to talk to the Lord in prayer, until you are sure that you have surrendered you heart and life to him).
Amen.
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Once you have surrendered your heart and life to Christ, these steps will help you to grow in your faith and your commitment to Him:
(1) You can deepen your relationship with Him by talking with Him every day in prayer. You will experience more and more of the love and compassion of God.
(2) You can find out more about God's love, and His purpose for your life, by reading His Word. You can download a free New Testament as a PDF file, at: http://www.mediafire.com/?bfagb75cyf0
(3) Find out more about following Jesus, and connecting with other believers... You can go to the following site for further info: https://journeyonline.org/get-started/
(4) Share the love of Christ with someone you know who needs Him.
I pray that God's peace and strengthening love will flourish in your life, as you follow Jesus.
M. Erickson
