Heart's Desire?

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10 

I was spending time with some friends before Christmas.  When it was time to leave, one of them told all of us "I hope God gives you the desires of your heart."  While that may seem like a friendly and encouraging sentiment, on the way home it struck me....if I were given the desires of my heart, that would be a very bad thing.  There would be some whose entire lineage would disappear from time.  I would be the one with the biggest paycheck instead of pinching pennies.  There would be only one law of the land....mine.  You see, my heart harbors some very dark desires that should NEVER be released.  Pandora's Box has nothing on the evil that lurks in the shadows of my heart.

Instead of seeking the desires of my own heart, it would be proper and much better on the general populace if I prayed that God would change my heart, change my desires, clear my heart of shadowy places, and help me focus on God's desire for my life.  As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 51:10 - "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me."

Perhaps we should start 2018 praying Psalm 51:10 every day.  "Father, Create in ME a clean heart and renew a loyal spirit within me THIS DAY.  I praise You and Thank You for loving me enough to cleanse me and renew me and call me by name and using me for Your purposes."  Think about it! 

Restoration?

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. 

In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!

Job 42:10 

 

I like to see pictures of how a rested and neglected automobile is given new life with a restoration, and many restorations make the car more valuable than it was originally.  

 

Have you ever felt your life needed a restoration?  Perhaps you feel like a rusting hulk of metal and dirt and a quick wash just doesn't do the trick.  Hmmm......consider Job.  God allowed everything to be taken from him, leaving him a rotten shell of his former self.  Job prayed over and over for God to hear his case.  Before you think God isn't fair...He is always fair just, perhaps, not in our sense of fairness.  

 

But after enduring his crumbling life for as long as God planned, God restored to Job his fortunes and even gave him twice as much!  

 

I get to talk to people who feel their lives are just a boatload of failures and missteps.  Every day when I look in the mirror, I see a face that has over 54 years of screwing life up.   Yet God has never left me even though I walked away from Him for many years.  He never forgot me.  AND He will never leave you or forget you.  

 

"So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7

 

Need A Dip or a Bath?

³ Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything and that he had come from God and was going back to God. ⁴ So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
⁶ Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
⁷ Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later.”
⁸ Peter said, “No, you will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.”
⁹ Simon Peter answered, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but wash my hands and my head, too!”
¹⁰ Jesus said, “After a person has had a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you men are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ Jesus knew who would turn against him, and that is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
John 13:3-11 

I was talking with some friends the other day and we began reminiscing about our childhoods, when one of the guys asked us if any of us had taken that washtub bath on the back porch.  We all laughed and said we had done that.  Then he told us the rule in his family was the oldest child got first bath and then the next oldest and so on down the line.  He said he was the youngest of 6 children so he always got the last bath.  He said he was fortunate that hot water was added regularly and the old water was dumped out regularly as well.  He said, "I knew my brothers and I knew they were not the cleanest people in the world, so when I got last bath....there was no telling what would be in that water."

 

Picture the scene....the Disciples are with Jesus in the room where they were to begin the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  Jesus gets us, removes his outer clothing, pours water into a basin, takes a towel and begins washing the feet of His Disciples.  Going from one to the next, changing out the water as needed (look at the feet above and you'll have an inkling of what Jesus was handling).

Jesus goes from Disciple to Disciple and even washes the feet of Judas, who was about to betray Him, and then Jesus comes to Peter.  Ah Peter, that Disciple who tried so hard but seemed to be too stubborn to change.  Jesus knelt before Peter, as a servant, with the basin of water and towel, reached for Peter's feet and then Peter's stubbornness kicks in.  He tells Jesus, "YOU will never wash my feet." 

On the surface, we might say Peter could not bear to see the Savior doing such a menial task, and we might agree with Peter's response.  But Jesus tells Peter, "If I don't wash your feet, you are not one of My people."  Which smacks Peter between the eyes!  Peter's response is typical of his overreacting personality when he tells Jesus to wash him completely.  I can almost hear Jesus chuckle when he reminds Peter, "After a person has had a bath, the whole body is clean, he only needs to wash his feet."

Jesus tells Peter, in the hearing of the other Disciples, "And you men are clean, but not all of you."  Why? Because Jesus knew Judas was about to earn his thirty pieces of silver.  

 Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me."  

Father, 

Clean us inside and out from all that keeps us from You!