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With All My Heart

 

While praying yesterday afternoon, I came across the following, familiar verse: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

“Lord, I am seeking You with all my heart,” I prayed. “At least I think I am. Is there anything I’m seeking that competes for Your place in my heart?”

I continued to pace and pray, a favorite technique of mine. While walking, I read from a handful of Bible verse cards, one verse at a time. I talk to God about any thought the verse brings into my mind. I walk and reflect until I feel ready to move to another verse. As I considered Jeremiah 29:13, some words came into my mind regarding things I may sometimes seek that threaten to challenge God for parts of my heart.

 

Approval

For me, approval from others is a vulnerability. More than once I’ve made a decision based on what someone else will think of me or wants me to do instead of seeking God’s opinion on the matter first. I can also be tempted to lie or keep silent about the truth if I fear it will impact someone’s opinion of me.

But if I’m seeking God with all my heart, I want to do and speak whatever, wherever, and however He wants me to. I can trust Him to help me and to work out everything for good—even honesty about my beliefs, struggles, or failings—when I seek His opinion first.

 

Accomplishment

I’m a sucker for app accomplishment badges. Words with Friends2, Kindle, and my fitness tracker all offer them. Pursuing digital badges can easily distract me from more important work, though. God has given me people to love and nurture, messages to write, and a community to serve. These don’t give me badges, bookmarks, or points, but the mostly unseen rewards are better by far. Serving God by faithfully attending to the tasks He gives is an act of pursuing His heart with all of mine.

This does not mean I can never play my favorite word game, read digital books, or count steps. I just have to prioritize what really matters.

 

Abundance

Resources. I often wish I had enough time, money, and energy to do everything I want to do, to help everyone I want to help, to follow through on every intriguing idea. Maybe this is why God has set limits on the resources I have. Maybe He wants me to talk to Him about my desires, the needs of people around me, and all my inspired ideas, so He can help me channel my resources wisely where He wants them to go.

If I yield to the temptation to seek more resources instead of seeking God’s guidance for using what I have (which equals what He has given), I risk losing or misusing time, money, and energy in the endeavor. Yet when I seek to steward my resources His way, I can trust Him to provide everything I need as I continue to obey.

 

When I seek God with all my heart, I find Him, I find answers, and I enjoy relationship.

·         What are you tempted to seek with part of your heart instead of giving all your heart to God?

·         How can you give this desire to God and seek Him instead?


Photo by coxci at FreeImages.com
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