My child, “give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways” (Prov.23:26). “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires” (Ps.37:4). “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” (1Jn.5:21).
Heavenly Father, this really is wonderful—you have 100% of us, and yet you still want more of us, and more for us. You couldn’t possibly delight in us any more than you already do (Zeph.3:14-17); but you crave pleasure, enjoyment, and delight for us. What a kind and generous Father you are.
This is actually quite stunning. You lack absolutely nothing, but you want us to experience such satisfaction and joy in you everything else will shrink to its proper size and value. 8’s will become 3’s, needs will become desires, idols will seem silly. The more fully we delight in you, the less we will over-need, over-obsess, over-love anything else. What a glorious paradox—the way to get the desires of our hearts is to make you our principle desire and delight. May it be so, Abba.
So what is your “competition?” What vies for my/our hearts? Who or what has become our movie or song cliché? To what mere human being are we tempted to say, “You complete me” (Tom Cruise) or “I don’t want to live without you, live without your love” (Foreigner), or “You’re my everything and everything is you” (The Stylistics)? What moral can “fill up my senses” (John Denver) or be “the wind beneath my wings” (Bette Midler)?
Abba, whose approval, how much money—what scenario, body type, job, story can possibly fill the Jesus-shaped place, vacuum, hole in our hearts? None, no not one… only Jesus. Bring us back to Gospel-sanity, Abba-delight, and Jesus-fullness. So Very Amen.