God Wants Your Heart

Numbers 14:24 "But my servant Caleb––this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately. I'll bring him into the land that he scouted and his children will inherit it. (The Message)

God has just finished telling Moses that none of the Israelites will enter the Promised Land because of their lack of faith and constant contempt for what He has done for them.  But then he singles Caleb out as being different.  He says that because of Caleb’s heart after Him, because of his passion and desire to follow God, he will inherit the Promised Land.  That’s all God focusses on, not Caleb’s intelligence, or physical strength, or anything else.  He looks at Caleb’s spirit, his passion for following God.  And because of Caleb’s heart after God, he blesses Him.  We see this so often in the Bible.  The story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) is another example.  Jesus walks into Jericho, and Zacchaeus is so determined to see Jesus and to know more about him, that he climbs a tree to get a better look.  Jesus recognises Zacchaeus’s desire to know him, walks up to the tree and tells Zacchaeus that he wants to go to his place for a meal.   Zacchaeus was not a popular guy, in fact he was despised by the Jews because he was a tax collector who took more than he should, yet Jesus ignored this and responded to the heart that he saw was after Him.  And when Zacchaeus had spent some time with Jesus he responded to Jesus’s love by making a real change in his life.  He stood up in front of everyone and made a commitment to give half his belongings to the poor and pay back 4 times anything he had taken wrongfully.  Then there’s the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43).  Here was a guy that literally had nothing left to give.  He was dying, only hours left to live.  He recognises Jesus as the Son of God, and asks Jesus to remember him.  From a human perspective we would think this guy was clutching at straws, hedging his bets.  But Jesus didn’t think like that, he saw the thief’s heart.  He saw a heart desiring relationship with him, and he honoured it.  He showed love and compassion to the thief even while they were both hanging on crosses dying.  He said to the thief “Today you will be with me in paradise”.  Jesus sees hearts after Him and he loves them, responds to them and blesses them.  He meets them where they are and ministers to them.  He never leaves them, always honours them.

We see time and time again scripture examples of God responding to hearts which are genuinely seeking Him.  When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is, his answer was that it is to love God with everything we’ve got (Matthew 22:37).  And God wants us to be passionate for him, in Revelation 3 Jesus rebukes a church for being lukewarm towards him, and says that he wishes they were either hot or cold because anything would be better than lukewarm.  But then he goes on to say:

‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.’ (Rev 3:20 TNIV)

Again, all he asks for is for us to have a heart after him, and then he will come into our lives and bless us.

It can be easy to get distracted in our day to day lives.  It can be easy to get busy and not make time for God.  It can be easy to be more focussed on getting through each day, making ends meet and trying to find times for ourselves.  But the more I learn to “Run the Race” the more I realise that in order to get through life I need my heart to be after God.  I need to seek Him first in all that I do, to make Him my number one each and every day.  I need to keep my eyes on Him, and not let anything get in my way.  I need to be disciplined, focussed and committed to Him.  By doing this I know that He is at work in my life, true to His promise to work for my good in all things (Romans 8:28), and I know that by seeking Him first He will meet all my needs (Matt 6:33).  My daily prayer is that He will help me to seek Him first, to grow in Him each day and be able to show His love to those around me.  And I would encourage you to do the same.  Set your heart after Him, make Him number one in your life, and watch how he meets with you, gives you what you need, and blesses you beyond comprehension!