The current cover photo on our congregation’s Facebook group page shows a collection of candy conversation hearts. You know, the kind that kids exchange in grammar school around Valentine’s Day. The ones that have a message about love. The ones that somehow still appeal to many of us today.
But these Facebook hearts are slightly different. One of the images is emblazoned with “Do Not Fear” and another with “Trust God.” A third contains the notation “Proverbs 3:5.” The words “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” also appear.
Many of us are acquainted with that verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:6 continues: “In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
That’s an appealing thought.
And hopefully without diluting the message of those Facebook hearts, let me say that the actual candy hearts really appeal to me, too.
The online cover-photo images are softly tinted pastels – pink, blue, green, lavender – on a cream-colored background. When I saw them a few days ago, they looked so enticing that for the first time in years, I had Hubby go out and buy me a bag of the ones labeled “Sweethearts.”
What I hadn’t counted on was how I would feel when I opened that package and started reading the messages. Several of them led me right back to the thoughts expressed on those hearts on our congregation’s Facebook page. Of course, many of them did not, but I put those in a separate pile as I pondered the chunks of confectionery that were conversing with me.
“True Love” – As discussed in my column about the book of Hosea, God’s love for mankind – for me, for you – is incredible. Simply boundless. Think John 3:16.
“Pick Me” and “Be Mine” – God asks us to choose Him, to obey Him, to let Him be first in our lives, and He will claim us as well. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts” – Malachi 3:15.
“My Hero” and “Super Star” – While I don’t recommend the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” at least it got the name right. Jesus was – will always be – a superstar because of what He did for us. That makes Him my hero. And while I might hesitate to use slang in a conversation with Him, I do agree with the sentiment on the “I Luv You” heart.
“Soul Mate” – People debate whether soulmates exist, but for a Christian, Jesus is our true, perfect soulmate. I’m currently pondering a thought from an article I recently read: “I imagine when Jesus looked those who followed him straight in the eyes, their hearts melted and their souls exclaimed: ‘Here is my soulmate!'” As Psalm 62 says, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God.”
Other loquacious heart candies offer additional thoughts that could be applied in a spiritual sense: Be True, Peace, Forever Yours, Thank You.
Such conversation hearts have been available for purchase since 1902, and non-heart-shaped versions were available even earlier.
But God provided us with His first conversation heart, so to speak, several millennia before that. Its words won’t fit on a morsel of candy, but the prophesy in Genesis 3:15 goes to the heart of the matter. God promised us He had a way to fix what we humans had absolutely and utterly messed up.
He promised that Someone would come to defeat Satan. That someday, one of Eve’s descendants would crush Satan’s head. That someday, Satan would be vanquished. And that Someone, while suffering pain, would destroy Satan’s power over God’s people. Later, in Jeremiah 31:33, He promised: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
That’s today. That’s the era of Christianity. And that’s what I want written on my own heart. How about you?
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Memory verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” – Proverbs 3:5.
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
