Learning from Past Mistakes in the LC by Guarding Our Heart

[bearbear]

Visiting my parents in Chicago one Christmas was like witnessing two wounded creatures.

My mother and father had given their lives to the LRC movement and in particular the subdivision under Titus. To Titus' credit there were many great things my family received under his ministry and I wouldn't be where I was today without him, so as a result my Mom and Dad were pretty much sold that Witness Lee and Titus were the real deal. Wherever Titus told our family to move, we did so. We uprooted our lives in Cleveland to move to Chicago when Titus told us to, presumably so my Dad could spread the influence of his ministry there.

After the great Midwest split, my Dad and another brother co-founded a church in a Chicago suburb under Titus' umbrella. After a while, this younger brother felt like my Dad was holding the church back. At every Cleveland conference he would gossip and spread outright lies and exaggerations about my Dad every chance he got with Titus. My Dad not being the type to defend himself pretty much did nothing and let it continue because he trusted in Titus, after all he had given up so much for his ministry.

One day, during one of these Cleveland conferences, everyone was invited to a special fellowship with Titus, except for my dad. All the full timers left their seats to join in the fellowship, but my Dad was the only one left sitting. Apparently, the brother made it clear to Titus that it was either him or my Dad. Titus ultimately chose that other brother because he was younger, more energetic and had more money. The hurt my Dad received in his heart was tremendous. He had given his life to this movement, only to have his heart handed to him on a platter. He had sacrificed not only his life but also his relationship with his family all for nothing.

Afterwards I tried to introduce my parents to different ministries I've found helpful. However they were very closed. They reasoned that if they had spent over 25 years investing in a brother they thought they could trust, why should they trust anyone else's ministry?

After meditating on this story and the stories of many of us here, the Lord gave me a revelation, reminding me of Proverbs 4:23:

Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.

My parents and many others were deceived into trusting part of their hearts to a movement and a person they thought was trustworthy and as a result their hearts were broken. Jesus never taught us to love our neighbors with our hearts, but he told us to love God with all our heart. Jesus knew what he was saying when he said this, because no one person or movement can be trusted with our heart but only God himself. Our heart is what connect us to God who is the wellspring of life, so we need to guard it carefully. God knows that if we give our hearts to other things, even seemingly Godly things like ministries, our hearts will ultimately be broken.

In his wisdom, God knows this firsthand because his heart has been broken many times. It's hard not to read books like Hosea which detail God's broken heart by Israel's betrayal and not feel sorry for him. Yet he's still willing to entrust his heart to us despite our potential for unfaithfulness. If we come to realize the Creator of the universe is so willing to invest in this risky love, we can't help but to love him back with all our heart.

Once we give our heart to God, nothing can ever hurt us. People can badmouth us, offend us and betray us, but we can all let it roll off our shoulders because our hearts belong to God! We don't have to have any investment in this world, because it's all gonna burn. Instead we invest the most valuable asset we have which is our heart into an eternal, unchanging and loving God.

So we spend time in his presence and his words which are precious to us, and we display our love to God by walking by faith in him. There's nothing like showing you love a person by trusting in Him even when the world and your eyes are screaming that you are crazy. We do things like give to the poor, or love our enemies expecting nothing in return simply because we're blasting out the love we've received from God after he entrusted his heart to us, and we to him. Because we know how much God loves everyone else after he showed his love for us, we can freely love others with the same kind of love.

Everyone in the world pretty much loves their children and in most cases their spouse. If a Christian does not love or provide for their family, Paul says they are worse than an unbeliever. However God wants us to go beyond this worldly love. Many parents even end up disowning their kids when they live disobedient shameful lives, addicted to drugs, or even becoming Christians like in the case of Islamic or Hindu families. God wants us to go beyond this earthly love by loving our family even when they go against us, betray us and don't meet our expectations. This kind of love can only be given if we also give our hearts to God and let him show us what true love is like.