I’ve heard Christians say, “I need a church where I’m fed.”
The Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 led his sheep to the green pasture. There’s nothing about him pulling up the grass and putting it in their mouths. Looks to me like the sheep still had to eat on their own.
So when someone says “I’m not being fed here,” I think they really mean “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.”
Jeremiah 1:4 (NIV)
The Word of the LORD came to me
saying . . .
Lord, give me ears that hear (and a heart willing to study).
Amen.
Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.
Is God’s Word “the delight of your heart”? Do you take joy in Bible study? No? What you need is more of it. It’s like asparagus–it’s an acquired taste.
When I was a child, I hated asparagus. Decades later, I have my own asparagus patch.
When I was a child, I wanted Bible stories, not Bible study. Now I write Bible studies. Start nibbling around the edges–you’ll learn to love it.
God speaks to us through the Bible. How often do you listen?
Think food for a minute: you don’t eat just once a week. Nor would a daily kiddie meal keep you filled. So it is with our spiritual food.
A single verse in the morning is a start, not a whole (this from a gal who writes tons of single-verse devotions). Eat hearty. Do some serious Bible study.
Following up on yesterday’s half-throne . . .
. . . Seriously now, can you picture our “no-other-gods-before-me” Lord of the universe sharing your heart’s throne with anyone or anything?
Matthew 22:36-37 (TLB)
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . .’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
Just do it.
“Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.”
Frances R. Havergal, 1874
If I love God half-heartedly, he has only half a throne. 
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). Scripture is clear. God wants me all-in, 100% for him.
How many times a day does my mind fixate on the sweet taste of a chocolate bar, the intrigue of a fantasy, the satisfaction of a put-down or the delight of an unnecessary purchase? It doesn’t take much for my heart to follow.
It doesn’t take much for my heart to run off and “have an affair” with the world.
Against you, O Lord God, I have sinned. Forgive me, I pray.
King David was a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22).
Seems an over-statement, since David slept with another man’s wife and covered it up by arranging that man’s death. Isn’t that a whole-heart breaker?
His sin found him out. Psalm 51 tells us how sorry David was.
Psalm 51:1,4
Have mercy on me, O God . . .
Against you, you only, have I sinned.
I wonder if the dead man would see it that way.
But for David, everything else paled in comparison to the break in his relationship with his Lord. That’s exactly the “after God’s own heart” part.
A long-ago lesson on the first three kings of Israel sticks in my head: Saul=hard-hearted, David=whole-hearted, Solomon=half-hearted. Over-simplified? Absolutely, but easy to remember. And easy to apply to my own life.
So what about you? Which king are you most like?
It’s never too late for a change of heart.
