1 Pet 1:22 "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

How am I to love one another deeply from the heart? What a difficult proposition since "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9)? I find that it is incredibly hard to love another person deeply from the heart all the time -- even those who are closest to you. The problem is not so much that I don't love them. I do. The problem is I love myself more than I love them.

My self-centeredness stops me from loving others deeply because I can't focus on the things I have to do, the things I want to do, my hobbies, my homework, my ministry, my sleep...loving others takes the focus away from ME! And to be honest, sometimes that is what my heart wants - self-gratification, self-satisfaction, self-promotion, self-exaltation... That is a disgusting heart.

What am I to do? I know what God wants me to do, but the good that I know and I sometimes want to do I do not do (Rom 7:19-20). "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death??" (Rom 7:24).

"Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:25)

I can die to myself through Jesus Christ my Lord, daily carrying the cross. I can count on Jesus creating a clean heart within me and renewing my spirit (Ps 51:10). I can love others deeply from my heart - the pure and clean heart that comes from the Lord Jesus.

O Lord Jesus, give me a clean heart, that I might love you and serve you. Give me a clean heart so that I might love others as you have loved me, so that I might love another person deeply, from the heart. Help me to love my family, love the people in ministry, love the church...help me to love all people/things RIGHTLY.