Day 192, Year 1

Restaurant of the Heart

“I … will dine with him….” (Revelation 3:20 NASB) 

Many human hearts can accommodate two or more voices. Since childhood, we are often told to do or not do certain things, leading us to begin processing different external voices in our minds. This kind of inner thinking can easily develop into self-talk or inner dialogue. However, sharing and talking with the Lord Jesus is definitely not any kind of self-talk. Indeed, some people find it difficult to hear the voice of Jesus (John 10:27). Thus, they fabricate or project a voice similar to that of Jesus. But anyone who truly wants to welcome Him into their heart must restrain themselves from impersonating, imitating, or counterfeiting His voice. Beware, anyone who pretends to be Jesus has probably invited the participation of the devil in it.

We, as believers, often need to clean up our hearts before we can let Jesus come in and dine with us. As mentioned previously, the human heart can be filled with a multitude of things, leaving no way for Jesus to enter. Today’s reflection is: Do our hearts have space for Jesus to come in and dine? For many, their hearts are not like a restaurant, but rather a factory, never ending manufacturing and rushing orders; or a social club, constantly hosting a variety of guests; or a bank, with a constant flow of money in and out; or a playground, with perpetual pleasures; or a receptor, constantly receiving information from the external world, etc. Indeed, some people need to adjust their psycho-spiritual conditions before they can dine with Jesus.

Jesus invites us to turn our hearts into a restaurant capable of showing Him hospitality, a space where we can sit down, talk, understand, share, and receive His spiritual nourishment. Often, we need to understand ourselves first on a deeper level before we can understand others. Before that, we needed to accept ourselves before we could accept others. And even before that, we needed to listen to the voice of our own hearts before we could listen to that of others. We usually need to eliminate everything that suppresses our hearts to listen to our inner voices. Unfortunately, some think that the Bible or Christianity stifles people’s hearts. This is a great misunderstanding of the truth in the Bible. Jesus came into the world to invite us to accept Him, not to oppress us, but to free us from any bondages with His help. His invitation is by no means as any form of oppression.

Reflection questions:

1) Have you ever pretended to be the Lord Jesus? If so, have you confessed your sins to Him and relied on Him to restrain yourself?

2) What is your heart like? If it is not a restaurant, what needs to be changed so that Jesus can dine with you soon?