Do we form no friendships because our friends might be taken from us? Do we refuse to love because we may be hurt? Do we forsake our dreams because hope has been deferred? To desire is to open our hearts to the possibility of pain; to shut down our hearts is to die altogether. The full proverb reads this way: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.” The road to life and joy lies through, not around, the heartsickness of hope deferred. A good friend came to this realization recently. As we sat    talking over breakfast, he put words to our dilemma:

I stand at the crossroads, and I am afraid of the desire. For forty years I’ve tried to control my life by killing the desire, but I can’t. Now I know it. But to allow it to be, to let it out is frightening because I know I’ll have to give up the control of my life. Is there another option?

The option most of us have chosen is to reduce our desire to a more manageable size. We allow it out only in small doses — just what we can arrange for. Dinner out, a new sofa, a vacation to look forward to, a little too much to drink. It’s not working. The tremors of the earthquake inside are beginning to break out.

I shudder at how easily my heart can be divided. I do love God, I really do. I know you do too. The double-mindedness is revealed when we only sort of want God. Our longing for life to be good again becomes the test we hold up against God — if he seems to be helping,                         wonderful. We believe. If he doesn’t, well ... we’re going to chase whatever we think will fill our longing and get back to God sometime down the road. Powerful, ancient forces are pulling us in that direction 

We have to realize that the idea that we can control the larger events our lives is simply an illusion.  We must, we must, we must choose single-heartedness, where we desire Jesus above everything else  including our passing comforts.

If you want to become a wholehearted person, you must reach the point where happily, lovingly, you give absolutely everything over to God. You make Jesus your everything, your all-in-all. Not only is this the fulfillment of your heart’s created destiny, it is the source of all recovery and resilience. Nothing can be taken from you because you’ve already surrendered everything. You can’t hold on to things, friends; there’s no looking back. It doesn’t do any good, but it can do an enormous amount of harm. Remember Lot’s wife.

You can’t go back, especially at a time when God is moving things forward. He wants us to come along with him.

I give everything for your everything.

This is now my prayer.

I give everything for your everything.

Pastor Dave