“I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezek. 36:26). “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). “My son, give me your heart” (Prov. 23:26). “Your treasure and heart will share the same address” (Paraphrase of Matt. 6:21).
Heavenly Father, thank you for a new day. We don’t presume on the next day, or even the next breath. And thank you for promising us multiple mercies and fresh grace equal to the needs of this February Friday.
What is our greatest need? If we take these four verses seriously, the answer is clear. Heart-matters will always matter more than anything else. Hallelujah, you take the condition our heart so seriously, you have already performed the greatest “heart transplant” imaginable. By the Gospel, you removed our heart of stone and gave us a new heart. It’s a new heart, but it’s not a perfected heart. So like every day… today (and the whole upcoming weekend) we must:
Guard our heart. Protect, nurture, feed, focus, rest… Father, until Jesus returns, our hearts will need constant care. Nothing is more vulnerable and dangerous than an unguarded heart. There’s simply no such thing as a neutral heart.
Give you our heart. Father, this is your expression of desire for us, and your delight in us. What or who is most intensely competing for our heart’s affection and preoccupation? Show us. Free us.
Grab hold of you as our greatest heart-treasure… again and again. By the Gospel and the riches of grace, we now declare, “who do we have in heaven but you?” And in our most Gospel-sane moments, “we desire you more than anything on earth” (Ps. 73:25). So Very Amen.