A heart that belongs to Jesus
Sometimes when I am reading a scripture passage or verse, it stops me in my tracks. It is a Spirit-stopping, stalling, and meditating situation where I have to contemplate how it applies to me. I love meditating on one verse and applying it to my own life.
This happened today as I was reading Proverbs 21. A heart verse gave me a heart leap and I wrote down the words that flowed from my heart (“…The heart overflows in the words a person speaks; your words reveal what’s within your heart.” –Luke 6:45).
Regarding my heart ❤️
Proverbs 21:2 Everyone may think his own way of living is right, but the LORD examines our hearts.
I believe I was born with a deceitful, sin-sick heart. I used to fight that truth. I mean, babies are perfect, right? They are innocent and pure. Well, anyone who has had an infant knows this little human demands attention, need, and wants emphatically.
Suffice it to say, I believe our hearts are bent toward ourselves from the very beginning.
Jeremiah 17:9
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
In my younger years, I treasured trips, romance, expensive things, and happy situations. My heart was focused on what I could get. I’m not saying these things are wrong or bad. I am saying I have learned they do not produce lasting happiness or contentment. What I treasured was misguided.
Matthew 6:21
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
As I looked to myself—the world—humans—for hope and happiness, my heart eventually broke from disappointment.
Proverbs 13:12
“When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed…”
Then, in my desperate hunger for something I could hold on to, I looked up. God gave me a new heart.
Ezekiel 36:26
“I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. I will take out your stubborn, stony heart and give you a willing, tender heart of flesh.”
And God healed my heart.
Psalm 34:18
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
This was a process. I found out there were a lot of areas in my heart that were broken, wounded, and bleeding—hemorrhaging, really.
To this day, God continues to clean and renew my heart.
Psalm 51:10
“Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!”
And I am learning to trust Him.
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Place your trust in the [LORD]; rely on Him completely; never depend upon your own ideas and inventions. Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish, and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead.”
I am learning to love God with all my heart.
Matthew 22:37
“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’”
And I am learning to guard my heart and keep it focused on Jesus. Because I have learned (the hard way) that Jesus is the treasure I have longed for all my life. I want to protect that!
Proverbs 4:23
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
And as I learn to know God more and trust Him more, He provides me with all I desire. And I mean true, deep-down desires, not worldly trinkets, like things and trips. (Again, not that things and trips are wrong or bad. They simply lack the staying power of the sort of life I want to live.)
Psalm 37:4
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”
And as I delight in the Lord, my desires begin to change. I no longer place the highest value on things and experiences. I treasure peace, contentment, and a deeper relationship with Jesus.
My heart belongs to Jesus. His love cannot be found in things of this world. The love of Jesus is found in God alone.
Ephesians 3:16-19
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Isn't it amazing how the Holy Spirit can use one simple verse to search our hearts, remind us where we've been, and point us back to Jesus?
