As I was sharing part 1 with my friend Melodie, she reminded me of another aspect of romancing the stone. She was surprised that I wrote it that way, not mentioning the heart of stone. She is right. Love is the seed that enters our hearts, but how can the seed grow if you have a heart of stone? The soil is so rocky that it cannot produce any fruit.
Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Love is a fruit of the spirit, hence when you are circumcised in the heart, it’s of the spirit. There is much difficulty circumcising stone rather than flesh. All the issues of life proceed from the heart. You can tell if a person’s heart is still of stone or flesh. Those whose heart is of flesh live in the spirit, and you will know them by their love. It’s their love for God and their love for people. When your heart has been romanced by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the only thing that can proceed from your heart is love. Many will come to an agreement that they are in the image of God, but from their heart, there is no evidence of that image. To be in the image of God is to look like Jesus. He was the firstborn of the image of God, Adam wasn’t. Adam was created in God’s likeness, not in His image. If that was the case, the devil would have stolen God’s image and he would be just like God as he wanted. Jesus, the stone, is romancing us back into His image which is love.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
You can tell when a person is in love by the way they talk and act. They truly believe in this love they are in. You see the evidence of this with the acts of the apostles. In the book, you can see their love for Jesus and the great lengths they went to prove and show His love. Have you prepared your heart to do the same as them? You will do greater than they did if only you would believe. Be blessed, my friends.
1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be in dread, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.