Made For More (Chapter 5): Looking for Love -- How Your Heart Makes You Who You Are

Think about the last time you were frustrated with someone you care about deeply.  Most likely, this interaction resulted from one (or both) of you wishing the other person was making different choices.

Hannah Anderson summarizes this situation nicely. "[People do what they want]. You can discover what a person loves -- where she finds identity -- by observing the choices she makes. More significantly, you can discover what you love -- where you find identity -- by observing the choices you make."

This is a compelling line of logic.  If examining our choices can tell us what we love (and ultimately, who we are), perhaps our search for identity has been merely an excuse for not facing what we could easily know about ourselves.  Anderson suggests asking the following questions:

"What do I spend my time doing?
What do I think about most?
What do I talk about?
What do I fight to protect?
What can make me angry?

What will I sin to achieve?"

Take a few minutes now to respond to each of these questions.  Which one(s) made you most uncomfortable?  Did you discover anything about your values that you had not previously realized?

If we are honest, our efforts and affections are more often directed towards self-gratification than glorifying God.  When Jesus taught the two greatest commandments were loving God supremely and loving our neighbors as ourselves, He knew we were incapable of such selflessness.  Of course, we try.  We invent all kinds of programs and self-help approaches to becoming "better" people.  But the message of the Gospel is that while we can never achieve God's standards, Christ satisfied God's demands on our behalf.  Furthermore, His sacrifice empowers us to live God-honoring lives.

Anderson concludes, "When we talk about love and law, then, we are not talking about two different things that must balance each other out.  When we talk about law and love, we are talking about the depth and fullness of God's character: a character we are intended to reflect in all its complexity... Those who rely on legalistic rules as a way to gain God's love miss that He already loves them.  And those who insist that God's love transcend His rules miss that those very rules were given because He loves them.  In this sense, legalism and sentimentality are branches of the same tree; at root, they are attempts to find identity -- to love -- apart from God." 

In Colossians 2:6-7, Paul outlines the antidote to false identity.  "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." 

When we are rooted in Christ, our faith will be strong and our hearts thankful.  When we are not, our choices will reflect the wanderings of our hearts.  And if we repent, Christ is both able and eager to save us -- even and especially from ourselves.