Day One: The Heart of the Matter

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." (2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV)

God has one desire: To have your whole heart.

This is His passion, driven by His insatiable, relentless, unquenchable, and all-consuming love for you. He can’t help but love you with every fiber of His being, because love for Him isn’t just what He does. It is who He is.

He is the very source of love itself!

And He wants a deeply intimate relationship with you… a relationship that is so deep that nothing is more important to you than Him.

In fact, when Jesus talks about eternal life in John 17:3, listen to how He characterizes it:

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

The Greek word for “know” is actually a very intimate word, as it is used in the Bible for sexual intimacy between a husband and wife. God is crazy in love with you… and He is relentlessly pursuing you until He has your whole heart.

The problem is, there are many things that stand in the way of such an intimate, wholehearted love of God. But nothing more than money. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). And He goes on to say, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

No gray area here. You and I will either place our money and stuff before God, or we will place God before our money and stuff. And our tendency is to worship money more than God. I think that’s why Jesus calls this out as He does.

Here’s the deal. You can be actively involved in church, Bible studies, and mission work; serve on the worship team; or lead a small group; but if you haven’t dealt with your relationship with money, you will never know the intimate relationship with God you desire… the relationship He is just so passionate about.

Take some time today to have a transparent conversation with yourself about your relationship with money. Take an honest look at how you spend and use money. What’s most important to you? Does it have your heart?