It's About the Heart

I live a very fast-paced life. I am quite task-oriented, so I enjoy it, most of the time. But very easily it becomes systematic, repetitive, and stagnant. Yes, being busy can become stagnant. And you know why? Because in the midst of busyness, I begin to forget about relationships. Doing activities, working, teaching, even discipling, become things that I check off my list. And I easily lose the heart of the thing. Relationship. God is the creator of relationship, and this is the biggest thing He asks for and desires of us. To know Him, spend time with Him, love and obey Him. I want to be a better listener, not a better doer. Because when it is all about doing things, about success or failure, my value is placed in how well I perform. The truth is that when I fail, when I fall into the hands of my personal enemies, God doesn't ask me why I did it (again). He asks me how my heart is, where my motivation was. That's what He is really after; our hearts. This doesn't give us an excuse to keep on sinning and walking in our own way, but it helps us to understand and receive His grace and forgiveness instead of beating our heads against the wall every time we mess up. I was listening to a speaker the other day, and he was talking about Psalm 23. One of the verses says that God sets a table for me in the presence of my enemies. God is inviting us to face our enemies; our fears, struggles, temptations, lies, and worries. When you feel surrounded by your enemies, overwhelmed by your circumstances, it means it is time to eat. God has set the table, placed in front of us all good things to enjoy and take from His hand. Those are the moments He is setting us up to win, to conquer our enemies, by the simple fact of enjoying the presence of the Lord. When I am in the midst of a situation, I have to trust that it is because the Lord has set my table. He knows exactly what we can handle, and what we can surely overcome. And when our heart is towards Him, our actions will and must follow. Our decisions to break destructive cycles, to come up out of depression, to walk humbly with those around us, is what will bring the breakthrough. God sets us up for victory, but you cannot have victory without a battle. God will always build first a place of worship and communion in our lives (OUR HEARTS) before he builds up the walls of our cities (our strength). You know this movie/book Holes, where boys get sent to this ranch in the desert as punishment, and they dig holes all day long? In the end you find out that the Warden is really looking for a lost treasure, and she wastes her whole life looking for something that was never meant for her. God was showing me that this is what I am doing when I don't trust in Him and let Him show me the way. In my own strength and desperation, I am wasting time and effort digging holes that lead to nothing. Let the Lord fill in your holes, and allow Him to show you the way, the timing, and what is actually worth pursuing. Don't let the lies of the enemy keep you away from enjoying the table that the Lord has set for you. It's all about the heart, not about our performance.