Head to the Heart
Do you ever intend on following through with something and then end up just not doing it? Let me give some examples. Maybe you told a friend you would call them this last week and just never got around to doing it. Or maybe you told yourself you would wake up early to read or make breakfast before work, and then you find yourself snoozing your alarm five times and rushing out the door to get to work at a decent time. These are just examples of things I do weekly. I have really great intentions most of the time, but terrible execution. It’s like there is a total disconnect in what I want to do and what I end up doing. It’s frustrating, to say the least.
I feel this way a lot when it comes to my faith. I know what is right. I know what I should be doing versus what I shouldn't be doing. But, a lot of the time, I end up doing the thing that I don’t want to do. It feels like at some point between my head and my heart, the message got thrown out the window. Or sometimes even worse. The message got to my heart, but I willingly do the opposite anyway. It’s like my head and my heart are on two different pages.
So, what do we do when our faith feels this way? What do we do when our heart feels powerless against the things of this world? Do we lose hope and make compromises in our faith? Surely not. I started listening to a song this summer while at camp. It’s called Head to the Heart by United Pursuit. One of the lines in the song says:
“There's no shame
In looking like a fool
When I give You what I can't keep
To take a hold of You.”
When I get to feeling like I am losing hope in my fight for obedience. When I feel like I can’t do anything right and my affection for the Lord isn’t there, it’s usually a cue for me to let go of some things. These things can be anything really. Things like social media, caffeine, or alcohol. Or some things that are harder to let go of… like relationships, jobs, or places that mean a lot to me. Sometimes, I willingly let go of these things. But, other times, these things are ripped out of my hands whether I like it or not. A kindness and a mercy from the Lord.
When everything is given to the Lord or stripped away from me and there is no other earthly comfort to turn to, it is there that I find the Lord waiting for me. I turn to Him with no other options, and embrace His faithful love that initiated anything that was good in me in the first place. I am my most true self when I am fully sitting in His presence. No other distractions. Lord, would you help us to let go of the things that take away our affection for you, even if it makes us look foolish compared to the rest of the world.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 9:10
