“A tranquil, peaceful heart gives life to the body, but envy makes the bones rot.” Prov. 14:30
Lord Jesus, what a stark contrast—a peaceful heart that gives health, and an envious heart that takes it away. I know which I prefer, and I also own how subtly I can drift into comparison, discontent, and envy. Help me, and my friends, Jesus.
Personally, I don’t crave my neighbor’s new electric Tesla with the 20-inch screen. But I’d love to have “wheels” (knees and feet) that would let me jog, as in the past. I don’t crave having a “smart home” with all the new technology that is now available. But I do miss remembering names like I could in the past, and it does take a little longer to retrieve information that used to be on the tip of my tongue.
And though I can tell anybody how to get to heaven, I didn’t get the GPS chip, and feel “directionally impaired”—compared to my friends who have a built-in compass, sonar, and radar. Oh, the embarrassing stories I can tell… But, hallelujah, because of you, Jesus, having a tranquil, peaceful heart isn’t a cruel tease, unrealistic want, or something we’ll only have in heaven.
A peaceful heart is gained and maintained by remembering what we already have in you, and by you, Jesus—and by spending time walking with you, communing with you… adoring you, worshipping you, enjoying you—“in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health… to love and to cherish,” until we are totally united when you take us Home.
Kind of like we are married, Jesus. Actually… we are married. It’s not a metaphor, it’s true. You love us that much Jesus. You are jealous for our love. How silly that we would envy anything or anyone. So Very Amen.