Lesson 47. An Open Heart

I remember how, in our youth, we sometimes played soccer in enclosed courtyards. At times it ended with the ball flying through someone’s open window vent, and one of us had to go ask for it back. We were always scolded for playing such games, but the ball was returned. Once I decided to test the strength of my kick in the hope of scoring a goal, but the ball changed its trajectory and flew into a closed window. We heard the sound of breaking glass, and all of us ran away together. But because the ball was very expensive and belonged to someone else, I had to go and ask for it back. I learned many things about myself. The glass had to be replaced at my expense. And I thought that if the window had been open, it would not have broken.

Have you heard expressions such as “a broken heart” or “a shattered soul”? Why are they called that? From my own experience, I know how painful it is when stones are thrown into your heart, breaking it into tiny pieces. Sometimes people apologize afterward and try to glue the fragments together, but the cracks remain.

Yet a miracle took place. Along life’s path I met Jesus, and He amazed me with His openness, accessibility, and hospitality. I studied His character and saw a great Heart standing wide open. Stones were thrown into it from every side, yet it neither broke nor closed. It is very much like an open door through which anyone who decides to do so may enter. The Heart of Jesus became accessible for study and knowledge. I entered It. I am in Him. And His great Heart proved to be a boundless ocean of God’s love into which stones of sin, hatred, accusation, and mockery are continually cast. The ocean receives them all, calmly opening its waters, swallowing every flying object, sending circles across the surface, and continuing its life undisturbed. For me, the secret of peace and calm was insoluble. I longed to become such an ocean.

All my attempts to love my neighbors ended when we reached the first crossroads of differing opinions, hurled the stones of our ambitions at one another, and together broke each other’s hearts. But life taught me to avoid sharp corners and not create situations of conflict. With this outlook on life, I managed to advance very far. Yet I knew that the stones were prepared and would someday fly. Gossip is something a believer cannot escape. Sooner or later I become its victim. My glass cannot withstand such blows; it breaks. Yet I do not want to open the windows of my soul.

But the day came in my life when I grew weary of these beatings and understood that I had many good stones prepared for retaliation, but no love at all—the very love that endureth all things. I turned to God with this confession. I asked Him to give me this power, teach me to love, and change my life. The Lord heard and answered. Something switched within my consciousness, and I understood that I love.

I did not yet understand how it worked, but I saw that this power to love was within me and that it was mighty. This power does not disappear and is always available. I began listening to the new condition of my soul and observing what took place. I tried using this power under different combat conditions and upon different people, and I concluded that love is the most powerful weapon of defense and attack in the entire Universe.

I also noticed that love opened my heart to other hearts. Many people, seeing this openness, throw stones, but they do me no harm, although they could cause pain. I understood that an open heart filled with love is very difficult to break. Like the ocean, it is ready to receive all who desire to enter. And many people, seeing my openness, open themselves in return, and I can calmly give them my love and friendship, of which God has a great abundance.

Friends, I am not calling you to open your hearts indiscriminately to everyone right now, but to allow God’s love to perform this work within you.

I will tell you a parable about jars.

Dirty jars with iron lids lived on the shore of the ocean. Their media had warned them that the ocean was dangerous and unpredictable, or that it simply did not exist and all the jars had appeared accidentally in this world as a result of evolution. But among them were those who entered their society and spoke about the beauty of life in the ocean, its warm waters, cleansing abilities, and other advantages. All this sounded like a fairy tale, but the witnesses of the ocean differed from the other jars in their cleanliness and carried within themselves those very waters about which they told their neighbors. Some believed these stories and went to the ocean, immersing themselves in its waters. All the dirt truly washed away from their surfaces. But because the lids of their souls were closed, they could not immerse themselves completely in the clean waters. Thus they were in it, but it was not in them. Their inward dirt was perfectly visible to all the other jars because their outward appearance had been washed. Yet when they returned to the shore, the closed jars became dirty again and were like everyone else.

But one jar, conscious of its inward uncleanness, desired to open its lid and in that condition allow the ocean to wash its interior. A beautiful union resulted: I am in it, it is in me, and its waters abide within me. Hearts were cleansed. Open jars could descend to the very bottom of the ocean, studying its qualities from within. Nothing harmed them, and no one could pluck them from its hand. Purity, peace, and mighty influence became accessible to every open jar. They rejoiced in this condition and went into the world to bear witness to the love of the ocean, that it exists and rewards those who love it. But many did not believe them, and some were struck and broken, their fragments being cast into the ocean. Precious in the sight of the ocean is the death of its jars.

But there were also jars that, after tasting the waters of the ocean, began looking toward the world, reaching for it, entering forbidden territory, contracting forbidden marriages, leaving the warm harbor, or emerging from the clean waters and plunging into the bustle along the shore to satisfy their curiosity.

Usually they did not return, or they crawled back to the shore beaten and dirty. Suffering the pangs of conscience, they were afraid to entrust themselves to the gentle waters of infinite love so that they might be washed and healed.

God’s love is like the boundless waters of the world’s ocean, and it is ready to receive every tormented soul into its embrace. There is enough of God’s love for everyone; it never runs out and never fails. I need only open the windows of my heart, and it will not keep me waiting. With mighty streams of cleansing love, God will change everything in my life. The dream of Jesus will be fulfilled: I will be in Him, He in me, and His words will come alive for me and accomplish everything for which they were spoken. Nothing will be able to separate me from the love of God. I am not afraid of the stones of mockery, gossip, treachery, accusation, or human malice, because the windows of my soul are open, allowing the ocean of God’s love to swallow everything directed against me. And I continue to love. Love cannot close its windows; it is love precisely so that it may belong to everyone.

1. Please read Matthew 5:8, 14–16; John 10:7–10; and Luke 4:18, and consider them in the light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand while studying this subject?

3. What revelations did you receive?

4. Do you have examples from your own life showing the advantage of an open and loving soul?

5. Was Jesus open to everyone?

6. What does it mean to open the heart?

7. What Bible verses came to your mind?