If Your Heart Isn’t In It…
Psalm 119:9-11 (Amplified Bible)
9How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].
10With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.(A)
11Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
I was having a conversation with my God daughter recently about the church we attend. I live down the street from where we go to church, whereas she has about a 20 to 30 minute drive to church. She told me when she first began to attend our church, the thought of that drive to church would about stress her out because of the length of this one road that she had to take and because where she use to go to church was only five minutes from her home. At that point I remembered our Pastor one Sunday pointing out a couple that drove three hours to church each way, I thought to my self that is sold out. Today, as I began to think to myself if I ever moved away but I was within two to three hours would I find a church closer to home or would I make the trip, my answer came easy and without hesitation, it was a definitive yes I would make the drive. As my God daughter said as her heart became atoned to the ministry, and the work of God was doing in her there, the drive became a piece of cake. I realized in that instant your heart set will dictate your mind set.
So often we find ourselves struggling in marriage, relationships, obedience on our jobs and to God, because our heart is far from it, and total obedience to God. We are so consumed with the effort we must put forth, how time consuming it is or how tired we are that we struggle with things that would other wise be cake if we would only atone our hearts to the task at hand, the rest of us would follow. I have heard people say I am so tired of the struggle, I am tired of the pain, I worked all day, I never have any time to myself ( I too have been guilty of these words), but the question I see in this is “Must Jesus bare the cross alone? Oh there is room for everyone.” How much did God give up to ensure that we had salvation available to us if you chose? How much love did He exhibit to us even when our choice was to love ourselves, others and things over Him? How many times has He kept us when we did not deserve to be kept? But yet when He commands us to love Him with our whole heart we offer Him only what is convenient, when He instructs us to love our neighbor as ourselves, we tell Him He never had a neighbor like ours. When He instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it, we tell him that He just doesn’t understand who we are married to or we have grown tired. When He instructs us as wives to submit to and under gird our husbands, we tell him we can’t because I am no ones door mat. When He tells us to submit ourselves to those in authority over us, we say but you see how they treat me.
When do the excuses stop and the obedience and will of the Lord begin? It will only happen when we are whole heartily submitted to the Lord in every area of our lives not just the areas that are easy for us, not just in the areas we have mastered, not just the areas that we can submit to without a struggle, it is EVERYTHING! If our heart is out of alignment then the rest of our lives will be to. If our heart is focused on all else but God a 20 to 30 minute drive to church will seem like a lifetime. Isn’t it time to see where our hearts lies? Heart check, one, two, one two…
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