Day 23 :: A heart to receive

The text said,
“Go check your front porch.”

I was making biscuits in the kitchen, with the girls, so Bradley went to the door and came back with a package wrapped in brown paper.

He opened it slowly to reveal a brand new camera–something we’ve wanted for a long time.

Inside was a note from our dear friends, begging us to receive this gift with no strings attached.
You see my friend knows me well.  She knows that I have difficulty receiving.

Why is it so hard for me to receive? 

Not just gifts, but comfort, a listening ear, acts of service, prayer support….the list could go on.

I continue to wrestle with this in my heart as I’m learning that a heart driven by truth is one who receives.

As much as our culture might indicate otherwise, as Christians we are not made to be self-sufficient.  Tim Keller said it well in his book Gospel in Life, “We are profoundly interdependent.”

We need each other.  We require one another.

Sometimes my pride stands in the way, sometimes it’s that I don’t want to be a burden, I don’t want to inconvenience someone, or share my heart because that can be painful and makes me vulnerable.

Isn’t it wrong, though, of me to expect others to ask for help, share their heart, inconvenience me and not allow them the opportunity to help me in return?

Romans 12:10 says,

“Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.”

The applications of this verse are many, but the bottom line is that I need to allow others to love me.  

Those biscuits I was making?  They were a little saltier than normal.  I cried tears of gratitude and repentance.  Thank you, dear friend, giver of the camera {you know who you are} for helping to open the eyes of my heart a little bit more to reveal something that needed to be changed.

Oh, that the Lord would change my heart today and give me the ability to live in the body of Christ as a true member, a giver and receiver.

To see a list of other posts in this series go here.