Large Hearted

Isaiah 54:² “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” (NIV, emphasis added)

The image inserted shows that the first thing you and I need to stretch is the mind. When your mind is stretched, you will have a larger heart. Having a big heart means not seeing things as other people see them, and it changes everything about you. Enlarge the place of your mind. Enlarge the place of your heart. Stretch your heart’s curtains wide. Do not hold back. When someone has a big heart or is described as large-hearted, it means that the person has a kind and generous disposition. When your mind is stretched and exposed, you are kind to people.

You do not judge people. The truth is that people who are racists are actually ignorant. People who are educated and learned know that it is just melanin glands, the pigmentation of the skin, and the adaptation of humanity based on environmental factors that have now been coded into genes. The human genes learn and evolve. When you know that there is no difference between two human beings because of the colour of their skin, you are not biased. Biased people, people who are racist just show how ignorant they are. The same for the “ethnic-Christian”, for instance, those who claim to be “Yoruba Christians” and therefore cannot marry or relate with “Igbo Christians”. It is just a display of ignorance.

When your mind has been enlightened, when your mind has been stretched, you are large-hearted. You do not easily judge people. You are kind and generous. Interestingly, kindness is something that is fast becoming a scarce commodity because people are becoming more and more cruel. Do you know why people are becoming less and less kind? It is because people are becoming more and more ignorant. People’s minds are not being enlightened. When your mind is enlightened, you are kind. When you know, for instance, that the fact that you were born into a privileged family, and you had access to jump-starting in life, does not make you better than people who do not have the same privileges. So, you do not feel you are better than anyone.

You know that you did nothing to determine where you were born, or to whom you were born. Therefore, you are kind to others. You do not segregate or relate to people based on status.

Prayer: Father, please let my mind and heart be consistently flooded with Your light, and with wisdom, that I may see as I ought to see, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!