Relocate

I’ve been mulling over the “gospel third way” as Tim Keller calls it to deal with life, to deal with feelings. David shows us how in the Psalms. Praying our feelings. Praying our doubts. Praying our fears. Praying our tears. Praying our praises. Praying our joys. Praying our sorrows. The Psalms are replete with all of this. Every moment we are to seek Him, pray all of life to Him. Continually seek His face, seek Him.

The heart of the matter as a Christian is to seek Him first in all things – seek His Kingdom. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I am so thankful that shortly after becoming a Christian at the age of 16, God gave me this verse to be my life verse. It has been and continues to be the foundation of my life, my guiding star, my prayer, not only for me, but for each of my children, that they seek Him first in all their ways. This precept is laid out for us in the Old Testament as well:

Deuteronomy 4: 29 – But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Psalm 27: 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.

1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Recently, while in the hospital for heart issues, I was thinking on Psalm 27, especially verse 8. No matter what we are going through our hearts should be seeking Him first, seeking His way.

Truly God is our light and salvation. There is nothing to fear. He is the stronghold of our lives. He hides us in His shelter in the day of trouble, in our troubles; He conceals us under His cover, He lifts us up and lifts our heads, provides hope and endurance for whatever trial we are dealing with. He teaches us His way. Ours is to wait for Him, to be strong, to take courage, and yes, wait for Him (see all of Psalm 27).

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire (meditate) in his temple.

And as I was preparing thoughts for this blog, I opened up the daily meditation from Henri Nouwen and felt it apropos to share. Henri’s thoughts echoing my own…

Jesus’ response to our worry-filled lives is quite different.

He asks us to shift the point of gravity,

to relocate the center of our attention,

to change our priorities.

Jesus wants us to move from the “many things” to the “one necessary thing.”

It is important for us to realize that Jesus in no way wants us to leave our many- faceted world. Rather, he wants us to live in it,

but firmly rooted in the center of all things.

Jesus does not speak about a change of activities, a change of contacts, or even a change of pace.

He speaks about a change of heart.

This change of heart makes everything different, even while everything appears to remain the same.

This is the meaning of “Set your hearts on his kingdom first . . . and all these other things will be given you as well.”

What counts is where our hearts are.

When we worry, we have our hearts in the wrong place.

Jesus asks us to move our hearts to the center,

where all other things fall into place.

Henri Nowen