May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thess. 3:5
Heavenly Father, this Scripture reminds us of a line from a favorite hymn. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Take my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” If you’re not directing our hearts, it too easily drifts in faithless, graceless, aimless directions.
Some days we wake up with our hearts running to self-pity—when disappointments in life loom larger than your delight in us. Other days we seem GPS-programmed for people’s approval—though being more aware of who we are in people’s eyes, than who we are in Christ, is always a dark, dead end.
Some afternoons we lace up our running shoes for a quick jog to leafless-park of unforgiveness, anger, and resentment—where we rehearse the failures of others, more so than the riches of your grace.
On other unguarded-heart-days, we take little side trips into the village of comparison, envy, and discontent. Or we allow the mirage of “what if’s” and “if only’s” to rob us of joy and contentment. Worse, we go take a swim in the empty pool of criticism and self-righteousness—forgetting the log in our eye will always be a bigger issue than the speck in anyone else’s eye.
So Father, on this October Wednesday, please answer the apostle Paul’s prayer on our behalf. Drive and direct our hearts into your lavish, liberating, life-giving love. And take us deeper into Christ’s perseverance—his work for us and in us.
We’ll gladly be like one of those automatic driving cars. Take the wheel, set the course, and get us to your destination of choice. By the power of your sovereign Spirit, redirect our hearts into every good thing we have in Jesus. Sabotage our every attempt to go anywhere else. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.
