by David B. Linn, Northeastern District Superintendent
We have all seen the magic trick where a magician reaches into a black hat, says some magic words, and pulls out a rabbit. Everyone is dazzled by the pleasant surprise.
But what if the magician were to prepare his trick carefully, reach inside the hat, and find it empty? The magician would be the one surprised.
I often feel like I am that magician. I think of the way God has called me to love others with the agape kind of love: having no limits, with full knowledge of people’s failings, never excluding anyone for any reason, fully sacrificing myself for their good, and having no intention to ever stop. I look into the secret compartment of my own heart right when I need to pull love out to give to someone else, and I find the rabbit missing.
That is why I am thankful for what Romans 5:5b tells us: “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Love Provided
The broken, fallen, selfish human heart doesn’t have the capacity to love with a God kind of love. This should not be a surprise. I often counsel believers who have given up on someone or their church. They say, “I just can’t do it anymore.” Sometimes I feel that way myself: “I can’t do this. What I need is simply not in there.”
But the Lord never asked us to supply something we do not have. By indwelling every believer, He has poured out His love within us. It is now resident there because He is there—because God Himself is love.
So even when we do not feel like loving, we can choose as an act of naked faith to reach into our hearts, pull out some of our store, and give it to another. In this backward magic trick, it is the magician who is most surprised to find a rabbit in his hat. God will enable us to pull any number of rabbits out of our hats that we may need.
Choose to Love
Our part is to disbelieve our feelings which always present themselves as the authentic state of reality. They are not. There is no such thing as an unlovable person or church. We must choose to use the well of God’s love in our hearts to bless others even when there is no feeling in our breast to support it.
This means that we can enjoy the experience of the surprised magician over and over again. The secret place of our hearts will always be filled by the bottomless well of God’s love.
Is that what we believe? Sometimes we feel like we have pulled so many rabbits out of our hats that there can’t possibly be any left. But I say, based on God’s promise in Romans 5:5: ¡Uno mas! my friends! If we will choose to act in faith, He will never fail to be our supply.