It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Catalogs are hitting the mailbox on the daily, and our youngest is armed with pen and big dreams as he seizes each one. Does wanting end with childhood? Of course not! We've got our twenty-somethings strategizing their lists like corporate takeovers and, if I'm being honest, there are a few things I'd like to have if someone else is buying. But what are the true desires of our heart? Is it just a bunch of stuff, things we wouldn't necessarily spend our hard-earned money to buy?
I grew up hearing others talk about their "life's verse;" that verse of Scripture God faithfully, repeatedly dropped on you at every turn; or the one that always spoke hope when you needed it most; or the one that has challenged you to keep pushing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). But years ago, the verse that stopped me dead in my tracks was Acts 20:24:
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
These are the words of the Apostle Paul. But, in his case, they were far more than words; he proved them with every assignment he completed for the cause of Christ. And in his first letter to the church in Corinth, he encouraged them with these words:
Imitate me as I imitate Christ.
I longed to comply. Oddly enough, God sent a few other verses my way --many of them on rotation --and the one which always vexed me, left me knowing that if I was to truly complete the ministry of reconciliation I'd been given, my desires had to change.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart. ~ Psalm 37:4
Not that I would receive all those things with which I'd been hoping someone would fill my stocking, but that the God I serve would alter my desires, place them in my heart, that I might want what He wants.
That I would be at peace when I am rejected by others for the glory of God.
That I would be okay with being invisible for the glory of God.
That I would cheerfully endure hardship for the glory of God.
That I would love to work --a lot! --for the glory of God.
That I would enjoy the gift of rest --even though there is much to do --for the glory of God.
That I would easily repent and ask forgiveness for the glory of God.
That I would wholeheartedly love the "unlovable" for the glory of God.
That I would rejoice in serving the greedy and ungrateful for the glory of God.
That I would be the first to give thanks in ALL things for the glory of God.
That I would obey --heart, mind, body, and soul in agreement with my Lord --for the glory of God.
That I would never try to claim anything for myself but direct every offering that so much as touches this vessel to the One who has given me all things. Including right and good desires.
You can't get that from a catalog.
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