A Divided Heart

1 Chronicles 22:19 "Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God."

I've mentioned that I just finished a study on the life of David by Beth Moore.  Some of you may be fans of hers and some of you may not be - but either way we have a LOT to learn from David.  Reading this verse in 1 Chronicles really struck me.  Devote/devotion are words that are normally used in relation to a committed relationship.  You don't use them nonchalantly.  Devotion is serious business.  What stuck out to me that day was the words "devote your heart".  My heart.  The Bible talks a LOT about the heart.  After reading a few verses about my heart and what it should look like, how to guard it, etc - this verse is the one that stayed with me...

Psalms 86:11 "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth, give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."

An undivided heart...meaning that my heart should belong soley to the Lord.  There should not be room left for anything else...but the truth is that my heart on most days is divided.  I don't know that at the beginning of each day I say "okay, I'm giving this part of my heart to ____ and this other part to ____ and God you can have the other part."  However, my thoughts and actions make it pretty obvious throughout the day.  It's a struggle - even if I start the day by praying Psalms 86:11 - I still fall into familiar thought patterns that end up dividing my heart.

This isn't one of those posts that will give you step by step instructions on how to have an undivided heart - it's still a sin that I struggle with more than I would like to...I guess I'm just trying to be transparent about life.  More and more lately I'm seeing how amazing "being real" with people can be.  It's quite overwhelming how many of us struggle with very similar things...even those that I look at and tell myself that they have it all together.  The struggles are real and my vote is that we are more open in sharing them with one another.

In admitting struggles we're proclaiming the cross.  We're shouting from the rooftops that we can't do it on our own - it's only by His power, His forgiveness, His strength, His grace, & His love.  So, let's shout together, cry together, question together, give grace together, & keep running this race together.