By Rev. Gerry Weesner, Maples United Methodist Church<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cDo not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.\u00a0So don\u2019t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. \u201cWhoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.\u201d Matthew 10:28-33 (NIV).<\/p>\n
Never doubt your value in the eyes of God. Being undivided in our relationships has to be begin with the understanding that we are infinitely valuable to our Creator God. As valuable people, we are challenged to see Jesus as valuable as well. \u201cEveryone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven,\u201d Jesus says, \u201cbut whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.\u201d Living with an undivided heart means that we value Jesus in this life so that he will value us in everlasting life.<\/p>\n
We are given, in Jesus, the greatest example of what a life of love is all about. We are reminded of the importance of forgiveness and are given the strength to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Above all, we are given a clear sign of God\u2019s intention for our lives: that we love one another as Jesus has loved us. Acknowledging Jesus and living in love is crucial to having an undivided heart.<\/p>\n
Gerald May, a Washington psychiatrist and spiritual director, was convinced that all human beings have an inborn desire for God. Whether people are consciously religious or not, this desire is their deepest longing and most precious treasure. \u201cRegardless of how we describe it,\u201d he wrote, \u201cit is a longing for love.<\/p>\n
It is a hunger to love, to be loved, and to move closer to the Source of love. This yearning is the essence of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
God has a special love for each of us. A story of told of how the small daughter of the distinguished sculptress Sally Farnham was once ask which child was her mother\u2019s favorite. The little girl promptly replied, \u201cShe loves Jimmy best because he\u2019s the oldest, and she loves Johnny best because he\u2019s the youngest, and she loves me best because I\u2019m the only girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would be difficult to find a better illustration of God\u2019s all-embracing love for His children. It is wonderful to know that God loves us personally, no matter what our experience has been. His love transcends all barriers, and each of us is most precious in His sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Rev. Gerry Weesner, Maples United Methodist Church \u201cDo not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5534,603,6659,210,4874,7413,6875,6786,7563,7562],"class_list":["post-18221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-churches","tag-bible","tag-church","tag-gerry-weesner","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-lord","tag-maples-united-methodist-church","tag-scripture","tag-spiritual-meaning","tag-undivided-hearts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-4JT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 02:43:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}