Know Your Heart

Hebrews 13:18-21

May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. (Hebrews 13:21)

WHEN YOU SURVEY THE WORLD, something likely gets your passions going—some cause, some injustice, some spiritual condition that plagues your society, some group of people that arouses the sympathies of your heart. It may be in public spheres of government, media, or education, or perhaps in more personal spheres of family life and private devotion. Maybe it involves a particular institution or behavior or attitude. It may get you excited, make you frustrated, or motivate you for change. Whatever it is, it strikes at your core, and you respond to it emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Somewhere embedded in your visceral reaction to this need is a call from God, a connection with his purposes that is not designed to frustrate you but to pull you forward. This is very possibly where your spiritual assignment is directed.

Look for those connections and magnetic pulls into the world around you, even if they look like revulsions at first. If they are broad and diverse—a general hatred for unfairness can show up in fields as varied as politics, health care, taxes, or the school playground, for example—look for the common characteristics, the places they might intersect, as well as how those intersections line up with your gifts. Your search and your questions may be a lifelong process, but God uses them to move you strategically into his plans. That’s because he rarely directs us with an audible voice or clearly orchestrated signs. He far more often directs us through the Spirit’s work on our minds and hearts.

God cares about this world, and he is extremely interested in working his way into parts of it that have kept him at a distance. But he generally does that through his people, not in spite of them. Sensitize yourself to the burdens and passions he has stirred within you. Let him move you wherever he wills. He will go with you and meet the world at its points of need.

{Lord, you are closer to me than I can imagine, moving and shaping me, speaking through my thoughts and activating my interests and desires. Give me the discernment to sort out your will, and move me with your Spirit to meet the world’s needs. Amen.