The Heart Of An Angel

The Heart Of An Angel

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:13–14

From this angelic song, we can learn what the angels are really like. Forget what the worldly wise teachers speculate about angels. This passage portrays angels so clearly that we can discern their thoughts and hearts. First of all, by joyfully singing about the honor of God, they show how full of light and fire they are. They recognize that everything belongs to God. They don’t take credit for anything. They enthusiastically give honor to God, the one to whom it belongs. If you wonder what a humble, pure, obedient, and happy heart in God is like, then think of the angels praising God. This is their first priority as they live in God’s presence.

The second characteristic is that angels love us, just as we are taught to love other people. Here you see what wonderful, great friends they are to us. They love us as much as themselves, and they celebrate our salvation as if it were their own. They give us good reason to regard them as highly as we would our best friends. This is the right way to try to understand angels. It’s no use trying to understand them according to their essence as the worldly wise teachers do, whose pursuits are futile anyway. The right way to understand angels is according to their inner hearts, attitudes, and minds. We might not know what they’re made of, but we do know what their highest desire is and what they’re continually doing. In this way, we see into their hearts.