Wholehearted Devotion

Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:1-4

2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him…”

What is your passion? The dictionary defines passion as boundless enthusiasm or obsessive love. Obsessive…now there’s a word that gets my attention. I tend to be obsessive about pretty much everything. I’ve been trying to figure out my passion. I’ve decided my passion is trying to figure out things. What consumes most of your attention? Is it deciding God’s will for your life or how to spend your time or how to spend your money? Is it worrying about things you can’t change or trying to plan how you can change them? So many things call for our attention. It’s hard to focus on anything when our minds are everywhere.

The bible says God is looking for someone to strengthen. He is looking for someone who is fully committed to Him. The word translated fully committed in the NIV is “Salem.” It means complete, whole, perfect, peaceful, without strife, total obedience. That word is sometimes translated wholehearted devotion. The dictionary defines wholehearted as unconditional and enthusiastic. One definition for devotion is addiction. Could God be looking for someone who is unconditionally and enthusiastically addicted to Him?

Isaiah promises God will keep us in perfect peace if our minds are fixed on Him. Frank Laubach, a missionary to the illiterate, was committed to constantly bringing the Lord back to his mind. Here is an excerpt from his journal as recorded by Max Lucado in his book, “Just Like Jesus.”

May 24, 1930: This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so. I think more clearly, I forget less frequently. Things which I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort whatever. I worry about nothing and lose no sleep. I walk on air a good part of the time. Even the mirror reveals a new light in my eyes and face. I no longer feel in a hurry about anything. Everything goes right. Each minute I meet calmly as though it were not important. Nothing can go wrong excepting one thing. That is that God may slip from my mind.

We all want to be peaceful and without strife, don’t we? The secret is to make God the object of our focus and our passion. He will take care of everything else.