Warm-Hearted

The theme of today’s lesson is warmth. We typically think of warmth in favorable terms.

  • If we say someone is a “warm” person, we mean they are nice, approachable, and empathetic.
  • “Warming up” to an idea means we begin to like it more
  • We associate warm temperatures with beaches and tropical places that are fun and relaxing
  • And who doesn’t love to sit around a warm campfire with our favorite people

Today, we’ll focus on warm-hearted people and what makes them that way. We’ll start with our verse from 1 Peter 3:8, which says:

Finally, all of you have unity of mind with one another, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind.

So, how does someone become more sympathetic, loving, tender, and humble? I would suggest that it requires real-life practice and experience. And when practice relates to sympathy, love, tenderness, and humility, it often involves our own pain, sorrow, and disappointment.

For example, if you experience a major career disruption, you’ll have a softer heart for others in that situation. Or if you lose a child or a spouse, you’ll become more empathetic and loving toward others who’ve endured the same.

Pain, sorrow, and disappointment in our lives are like friction in that they are uncomfortable irritants. But friction also creates warmth and, if we allow it to, can make us more warm-hearted. Should we view the frictions of life as unfair punishments? Or should we ask how God is using the friction in our life to mold us and help us become warmer people who are more useful to Him?

It’s up to each of us to decide how we will view the friction.

Questions:

  1. Do you personally like the idea of becoming more warm-hearted? Why or why not?
  2. Who is the most warm-hearted person you know? Do you admire them?
  3. Do you agree with the idea that while the “friction” of life is painful, it is also helpful (in making us warmer people)?
  4. Do you have any examples of how life’s friction made you more warm-hearted?
  5. Are there other ways we can become more warm-hearted without having to directly experience pain, sorrow, and disappointment first-hand?

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