Friday, March 29

Devotion

“Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” Jeremiah 24:7

We did not find Christ but He found and caught us. We surrendered, He transformed us. We became born all over again. He gave us a new heart.  That makes us a child of God – ‘His people’.

Yet Jeremiah tells us there is something we need to be sure to do – ‘Return to me with their WHOLE HEART’.

Whole heart is not a vague acknowledgment, a piece or a part, its not “have my spirit but not my soul”, “have my intellect but not my possessions”, “my words but not my heart” … ‘Whole heart’ is everything.

This is devotion.  Devotion literally means to adore, to worship, to revere.

Devotion is what the human heart was made for. Before anything else it was made to be devoted to God.

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, ‘To the Unknown God’.  Acts 17:23

These Athenians were devoted – but their devotion was misplaced, as they were devoted to many gods.  When our devotion gets misplaced – toward an object, a person, a need – our hearts attention is taken away from God.

A good question to ask ourselves is what would I not be prepared to give up for Jesus Christ.  Is my heart tied to anything that pulls it’s orientation away from Him?

The place of peace, the place of confidence, blessing, love, joy, life, power and fulfillment is found when we give our full and devoted attention to Him. When we give attention to the condition of our hearts. When we keep ourselves in a soft, moldable and devoted position before Jesus Christ.

Stay devoted!  Whatever It takes.  Prayer, worship, the Bible, giving, Church … keep your heart surrendered and devoted.  ‘Return to me with your whole heart’.