Good Morning Friends,
We are formed by what we desire, and our desires are shaped by the habits we practice. Think of Jesus in the wilderness and Adam and Eve in the Garden and what they desired. Adam and Eve desired to eat, eat and Jesus desired to pray, pray. Habits matter. You see, the heart is not changed by information alone but by worship, and for us by the liturgies and habits, large and small, that train our love in the narrow way of being in the presence of God. Here the heart learns by loving in the reality that God believes in us more than we believe in God. So, the question beneath all discipleship is not merely, “What do you believe?” Although that is important. At the core is the deeper, more revealing question, “What do you want?” Jesus asks this directly: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). It is a diagnostic question. Friends, our wants steer our steps long before our ideas do. The Bible consistently ties the shape of our lives to the orientation of our hearts. And the Creation stories require us to ponder deeper and longer how to reconcile what we read between the chaos of the waters and the desert for our own salvation related to our desires lest we die,die. So, What Do You Want?
Scripture: In the beginning God created… and it was good
Genesis 1:1
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.
Genesis 2:16-17
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
(Matthew 6:21).
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”
(Colossians 3:2).
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart”
(Psalm 37:4).
Message: Today’s passages do not simply command right thinking; they invite us into right loving—a reordering of desire that only God can accomplish, but that we cooperate with through daily practices. And sometimes, but especially during Lent, we need our work routines interrupted so we can focus more intently on developing routines related to Jesus. Maybe that was the original intent of Spring Break but it has been subverted for sure. The thing is that patterns of worship shape us even when we are not aware of it. In church we call them liturgies and confessions that are designed to bend our hearts toward the kingdom. This is worship. However, in advertising and in social media, there is another kind of worship that often bends our habits toward lesser, more selfish loves.Think of how we caress our cellphones swiping to get what we think we want. We know what we are supposed to love. We know what God wants, but often we really do not know what we really desire until it is facing us head on.
And So, there are helpful kingdom-shaped habits such as: daily prayer and Scripture reading… not as duty but as desire-training. Worship with the community… letting the church’s rhythms tune our hearts to God’s story is important too, especially when paired with acts of mercy and generosity… practices that loosen the grip of self-centered love. This trains our desires to be more like Jesus. And a Sabbath rest, that weekly reorientation away from productivity as identity helps us to recharge. These habits slowly, quietly, reshape what we really long for. Over time, they make us into people who love what God loves. Friends, we must make space for a new way of living if we hope to really live at all in the freedom of divine wisdom. Keep reforming.
Pray we thank God for the narrow way that allows us to exist at all. Pray we reorder our desires though good habits to be more like Jesus. Pray we realize that God knows the true shape of our hearts better than we do. Pray God exposes the desires that lead us away from a relationship of love with God. Pray God kindle in each of us a deeper love for God’s Kingdom. Pray God trains our hearts through the habits of grace… in prayer, in worship, in mercy, in rest… until Christ becomes our deepest delight. Pray God makes us into people who not only believe in God’s goodness but longs for it, seeks it, and lives it. Pray that our lives reflect Divine love in all things. Pray we never separate ourselves from the source of life.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 