Heart

Heart

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.

Ephesians 3:16-17

What kind of heart do we choose to have? Physically speaking, we can’t choose our hearts. We live with the heart we were born with, whether it is strong, weak, defective, or in good working condition. We can choose how we care for it, however. Spiritually speaking, we are all born with sinful hearts (Romans 3:23, NIV: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”). The good news is, we now have a choice about the kind of heart we would like to have.

Left on our own, our hearts are stubborn (see Jeremiah 3:17). In fact, the Bible likens us to sheep that have gone astray, thinking they can survive without a guide. How absurd. When a sheep refuses to follow the shepherd, setting out on his own, he invites all kinds of trouble upon himself—he doesn’t know where the water is, he can’t get rid of parasites, and he opens himself up to destruction by his predators.

If we don’t want hearts that lead us into evil thoughts, lying, sexual immorality, or theft, we must choose to ask God to cleanse our hearts and fill them with the presence of his Spirit (see Romans 5:5). This happens from start to finish by faith. By faith we ask God to give us a new heart, and by faith we look to him each day, exposing hearts that would easily fall into dark things if not regularly brought into the light of God’s truth.

Father,

Thank you that we have a choice about the kind of heart we want to have. Thank you that you are willing to change us as we place our faith in you. Help us to point our children’s hearts toward you. Amen.