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Transcript:
In a world full of opportunities, distractions, and obligations, is there any time to make time for God? We have jobs, families, hobbies, goals, and a bombardment of things in the world vying to get our attention 24/7. Where should we be placing our focus?
Give Your Heart Fully To God
If I were to ask you “What are the areas of your life that you put your heart into?” What would you say? For most of us, there are a number of priorities in our lives between our jobs, our education, our families, and even our hobbies. When it comes to matters of the heart, what we can often overlook is the opportunity to give our heart fully to God. What does this actually mean? Let’s explore 3 ways to give your heart fully to God.
3 Ways to Give Your Heart Fully To God
#1 Walk in the world in a way that honors God. The world is full of man-made comforts and we live in such a diverse society – for better and for worse. There are many cultural norms that show kindness, love, and goodwill, but there are others that do the exact opposite. There are so many areas of our culture that simply do not honor God. As we are exposed to these norms, many consider them innocent and perfectly acceptable. In fact, many areas of today’s cultural norms are the creation of man in a posture that turns away or even rejects the notion of God.
I often say, ‘Just because you can, does not mean you should’. This is especially so in a culture of norms that do not honor God. Envy, lust, greed, and vengeance are just a few of the norms that society feels are acceptable, but, in fact, are sins before God. We can give our hearts fully to God by taking a posture that turns away from the norms of the world to honor God in all of our ways.
For example, if your friends or family use profanity as a frequent part of their communication, you do not need to follow suit by using profanity in your communication. In choosing to not speak profanity, not only do you keep your heart aligned with God, but you set an example that goes against the status quo for those who act differently from you. This presents an opportunity for those individuals to witness your walk with God and potentially inquire as to how they can do the same.
#2 Ask God to show you His will. A common theme in all of our messages is a very important one. That is, to seek God’s will above your own. God does offer all of us 100% free will. In fact, we typically live most of our lives exercising our free will. Additionally, we typically experience all that comes with that freedom. What I have learned and suspect some of you have learned as well, is that a life with 100% free will without the guidance of God is one that is often wrought with randomness and uncertainty. We simply lack the ability to know any more than what we have the ability to observe. Additionally, we can only act on things that are under our control.
In reality, so much of our lives are influenced by others as well as circumstances that are outside of our control. What I have learned, and hope you will as well, is that surrendering our hearts to God and asking God to show us His will saves us so much time, energy, and even heartache. God knows what is best for us at all times. When we seek what He knows is best, we stand to benefit more than we could have possibly done on our own. Keep in mind, we can and most certainly should share our heart’s desires, our goals, and our dreams with God, but let us present these things to Him with a posture of asking His will for these desires, goals, and dreams. His plans may or may not align with what you have in mind, but He will most certainly consider the areas of your life that energize and inspire you as He reveals the gifts He has planted in you to carry out His will.
Let me be clear, the comforts of the world do not replace the blessings of God. For example, it is a common notion that money solves everything. There is a notion that if you have money, you will never be unhappy. While money does have the ability to enhance and enrich our lives, all the things it can obtain are temporary and can only go so far as to satisfy the desires of our flesh. Only God can guide us to a plan that He knows will transform us from the inside out. Only God can show us a plan that provides everlasting peace and joy that defies understanding.
#3 Trust God Once we have decided to walk in the world in a way that honors God and then ask God to show us His will, we can then give our heart fully to God by trusting Him with these choices. Trusting God means forming a posture of patience and diligence.
Patience, knowing that God’s timing is perfect. Patience, knowing that we will all have difficulties from time to time, but that if we are walking with God, these difficulties will be met with God’s support of strength and offering of comfort.
Diligence, knowing we should do our very best to prioritize a relationship with God. This means taking out time each day to be still with God. This means staying in a posture of prayer with the big things and the little things. This means offering praise to God for all of the ways that He shows up in your life and those whom you pray for. Diligence means remaining steadfast to live your life in a way that honors God, recognizing that we all may fall into sin from time to time, but that we can repent and turn back toward God.
Let us learn to trust God with every fiber of our being as we seek to give our hearts fully to God.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we discussed 3 ways we can give our heart fully to God. We learned the importance of not walking as the world does but walking in a way that would honor God and His teaching in our lives. We learned the importance of looking to God to learn how we should order our steps in our lives, bringing our hopes, dreams, and desires before Him, but yielding to His plan. We also learned the importance of trusting God. Trusting God with every fiber of our being can lead us to a life of fulfillment, peace, and ultimately joy.
Let us all learn to give our hearts fully to God. God has created each and every one of us and He knows what is best for us. When we can find it in our heart to serve Him and trust Him, even if His plan is not quite what we had in mind, we can find a level of fulfillment and contentment that can only come from serving Him and walking in step with Him each and every day.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: How To Give Your Heart Fully To God
