Follow Him With Your Whole Heart

Our hearts tend to get so divided. Our love and loyalties are naturally split between family, work, friends, hobbies and sometimes even food. While none of these are wrong, they can sometimes steal our love and affection from the One who gave us all of these things to begin with. When we follow Jesus, we need a full restoration of our hearts so that we make room for Him, first and foremost. The heart is deceitful above everything else says the prophet Jeremiah, so we need to guard it and keep a close watch on it. Every desire and ambition needs to be replaced with the desire to please God fundamentally. Desires and ambitions are never wrong when they find their place in a heart that is wholly devoted to Christ. Caleb and Joshua stood out before God amidst ten other Israelites who were sent to spy out the promise land. They stood out because of their undying and wholehearted devotion to their God. Since their hearts were set on obeying God, they were fearless in following where He led them, even if it meant facing a few giants along the way.

If our hearts are fully committed to following Jesus, it will be very visible through the passion and fire that we carry for God and His kingdom’s work. A half-hearted heart will show up in our divided affections between the things of God and the things of this world. Another problem in the turbulent times that we live in, is developing a heart that is hardened to things that are happening around us. People with this sort of heart are those who will be insensitive to the touch of God and will eventually give up on following Christ because they don’t find answers to a lot of their questions. Those with soft hearts, on the other hand, are those who are pliable to the touch of God and are receptive to the things that He is doing in and around them. It should be one of our highest priorities, to make room in our hearts for our first love, Jesus.

Declaration: I will guard my heart at all times.