Monday, February 17, 2014

a united heart

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 

Psalm 86:11-12


This prayer of David's to unite his divided heart is timely. It shows me that the tendency of the human heart is to struggle in holy devotion. Really, we probably all need to pray this prayer very regularly. I know I do. Sin confuses what should be simple. If I look to myself or to a crazily complex society, I will further be divided. We live in a world where even the simplest things that God has made have shattered like crystal shards at the hands of clumsy sinners. Spirituality (whatever that nebulous concept means at any one time to each individual) has replaced Christian faith as a descriptor of religious significance even among Christians. It has become the way to seek God.


Our world muddies what God made clear. Facebook now offers fifty confused gender choices for what God made binary: "Male and Female". Personal identities in crisis should break my heart. It shows me how badly people need God to unite human hearts and bring personal clarity. How the gospel needs to burden us to see God reconcile and rebuild broken people!


I want my whole heart drawn to The Lord. I want to be united with the guiding purpose of glorifying God so that His purposes guide my choices, my conversations, and my concerns for all people... even the broken ones who cannot define the simplest things about who they are. In love, I want God to reach out to shattered lives through me. And so I ask God for a united heart and His love for His creation.

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