Half Heartily

The Lord seeks your whole heart and wants it to be totally dedicated to Him.  Half-hearted allegiance will never be good enough.  I talked about the heart yesterday and I thought I might touch on it again today, along with some other things.

I think when most people encounter the Lord through a born-again experience they throw themselves into the ring, so to speak, with both hands and feet, with the purpose of honoring the Lord by doing His will.  The desire of their heart is to be like God and to reflect His image here on earth.  Many start out gun-ho and they are labeled fanatics but before long the excitement seems to fade and they become discouraged and they sort of just blend in like the rest of the church.  Their fervor seems to wear off, which is sad, because the church needs the fanatics because they are like a breath of fresh air.

I think the church is afraid of the word fanatic because over the years some have gotten out of control and caused more damage than good.  So they do what we normally do, throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.  Instead of seeking a balance, we tend to try to make them like everyone else, after all we don’t want them to get too excited.  They might get the attention we have been getting which could cause jealousy because of their popularity.  After all, excitement seems to be contagious, so we better nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.

Question: do you think that Jesus and His disciples were fanatics?  I believe so, because of their behavior and what they preached, people said that they turned the world upside down.  To them the gospel wasn’t a laughing matter, or something to compromise, and they didn’t water down the gospel because it might offend someone.  They stood true to the Word and to their Lord, praise God, and we have them for our example.

Now let me get back to the heart and what God seeks.  I want to go to the Old Testament and what happened to God’s people who were in Babylon.  After the 70 years were over in Babylon, God said this to the people, “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.”  Then He went on to say this in Jeremiah 29:11-14, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,’ says the Lord. ‘I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.’”

God is seeking our whole heart with a whole hearted commitment toward Him.  When you demonstrate a whole hearted commitment then you will be pleasing the Lord and you will be blessed.  God’s people went to Babylon because of their many sins and they were there many years but God didn’t abandon them, He loved them, so He used this exile to punish them and to bring correction to their lives.  But, when the fulfillment of the prophesy ended, God was there to receive them and to prosper them, not to harm them but to give them a hope and a future.  All they had to do, to find Him, was to seek him with all their hearts.  

I think this promise is for us also.  We can receive this in the same way they were asked to.  We need to seek Him with all our hearts also, are you willing?  I hope so.  Something to think about!  Have a super day and may God bless you and yours!!