My child, “give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways” (Prov.23:26).
“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires” (Ps.37:4).
“Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” (1Jn.5:21).
Heavenly Father, how amazing—you desire us and you delight in us. You have our hearts—in fact you gave us a new heart, yet you want more of our cardiac-center more of the time. Thank you for loving us with a perfect jealousy—a category we know so little about.
The more fully we delight in you, the less we will over-need, over-obsess, over-love anything else. Things we have given an 8, 9, or 12 importance in life—on a 1 to 10 scale, will shrink to a 3 or 4. What a glorious paradox—the way to get our heart desires is to make you our principal desire and delight. When you capture and captivate our hearts—our delights change and so do we. May it be so, Abba.
So, what is your competition for our hearts, Father? What vies for our passion and preoccupation? Who or what has become our movie metaphor or song cliché? To which mere human being are we tempted to say, “You complete me” (Tom Cruise) or “I don’t want to live without you, live without your love” (Foreigner).
To what romantic interest, place on the org chart, or economic/athletic accomplishment do we sing, “You’re my everything and everything is you” (The Stylistics)? What title, pet, or possession can “fill up my senses” (John Denver) or be “the wind beneath my wings” (Bette Midler)?
Whose approval, how much money, what family scenario, political fantasy, body type, or self-staring story can possibly fill the Abba-shaped vacuum you have put in our hearts? None, no not one… only you. Bring us back to Gospel-sanity, Abba-delight, and Jesus-adoration, and Spirit-fullness. So Very Amen.
