GPBC Blog

By Richard McElroy --

I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen one another, but know you are loved, thought about and prayed for often. We all are in the Father’s hands.
   
Whole-hearted! That’s been on my mind and stirring my heart lately. What does it mean to be whole-hearted? Am I ever truly living with all my heart set, fixed, on one thing? As I’m even thinking now, my mind wanders to: “Is everything ready for the coming meal; Wow, what a nice sunny day, should I be outside writing this instead of inside, and What happened last night in our city?" See? I am thinking about being whole-hearted but BLAM, my mind tugs me into a million directions. So when I hear about loving God and you with a whole heart, I am not sure I understand what that means.

Wholly devoted to the ones I love is the phrase that first comes to mind. Be wholly committed, sold out, all in. Hmmmmm. I hear echoes of the Shema in this thinking: “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is One. Love Him with all you heart, soul, mind and strength.” Now that’s a call to being whole-hearted in living out the invitation to fully know God and live in a way that ensures we please Him.  
 
Greg’s sermon this last Sunday spoke directly to this idea by challenging us to “live love.” (pdxchurch.org/grow/sermons/living-love/) I appreciated Greg’s challenge and the examples of either living for Jesus or against Jesus. There’s hate or there’s love. This is the prompt for asking myself the next, natural question, “How do I live in a way that’s wholly committed to Jesus?" Whole-hearted.  

Being halfhearted is my natural state. I mean I am excited about quite a few things: hot chocolate chip cookies, time with family, getting the demands of work and home right. I’m quite indifferent to other things: finding green vegetables in my foods, chugging through the weekly chores and having to fill up a tank of gas. I respond quite negatively to lots of things, too: a baby slug on the fork full of lettuce I’m about to eat, hateful raging replacing civil discourse in our streets or through the media, when I disappoint or hurt the people around me, and seeing selfishness overtaking kindness between the people I know who should be striving to care for each other. But all these emotions and situations point to a wishy-washy, halfheartedness on my part. My heart flies between each of those states: joy, a shrug of my shoulder and an emotionally charged “I don’t believe what I just heard…”  Is there a way to be whole-hearted that will move me away from this and into a better, overarching way of living.

I love where Paul recognizes this state in the people in Colossae, people struggling with keeping their focus on one thing. The focus in that place and time switching from God to the world; being halfhearted to both. He’s challenging them and reminding them that life is best lived with minds set on Jesus and not the world. Chapter three states, telling the Jesus followers “to put on compassionate hearts” and to “bear with one another, forgive one another and to love one another.” He encouraged them and is encouraging me to be whole-hearted. Jesus came to give me new life and a new heart. I need to respond to Him and his life in me, daily. That will set me up on the path to living with an undivided or whole heart. I must admit that I so often forget that I am changed.

When I accepted Jesus as my savior, the transformation or transfer from worldly living to Godly living occurred. But my heart still waffles back and forth. I guess I need to be more attentive to starting each day asking Jesus to remind me that my heart is His, and let Him know I want to be whole-hearted today. I will tell Jesus, “Thank you for making my heart new in you! Would you help me to fully give you my heart today and keep me from giving my heart to all the other things and ideas that want me?” So I will need to start each day talking to Jesus about this. That’s the place for me to start being more whole-hearted.

The second part after asking Jesus for the daily heart check, is what do I do when those situations and people threaten to disrupt my focus and call my heart away? When the need arises, I want to be ready to apply Paul’s words, “to bear with one another, forgive one another and to love one another.” My plan must mirror Jesus: bear with those people and situations who trigger me by being understanding. Forgive the slights and deeper injuries as they occur. Don’t wall off part of my new heart and go back to keeping scores. Then, most importantly, look for and begin cultivating ways to love as a first response, not anger, distrust and rejection. Try love first.

Isn’t that why God went forward, even before creation, to come and live the perfect life, to be the perfect sacrifice and to purchase our freedom of heart, body and soul, if we accept him? He came to make us His, to put His spirit into us, making whole-hearted children by His power and whole-hearted, loving sacrifice. Jesus was never halfhearted.
  
I must admit that the days and times we’re living challenge my capacity to live out of a heart fully set on Jesus. I am tugged away in all directions over worries about today and tomorrow, concerns for family, the indefinite length of time and impact of this pandemic, frustrations over the loss of a whole way of life, and the uncertainty of when things will be “normal.” Right? I see so many needs and my own lack of capacity or understanding to be able to influence change. But I do have control over directing my thoughts, emotions and actions every day. So that’s why I’ve been thinking about my own need to give my heart fully, wholly to Jesus, and pray to Him, knowing He alone holds my heart. It makes so much sense that I give it to Him daily. Jesus’ Spirit in me will help attune me to Himself: heart, mind, body and soul.  

Later in chapter three of Colossians, Paul shares, “And above all these things put on love, which brings everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were indeed called in one body. And be thankful.” 

There it is! If I strive to be whole-hearted for Christ each day, His peace comes. His love comes and overflows into all the concerns and tugs of daily life. There’s a hope we have as we’re united and made whole-hearted as the family of Jesus.

Thank you for being my faith family. Know that I care and am striving to be made more like Jesus, starting in my heart.