Saturday, May 10, 2008

The focus of our attention also gives us a picture of the core desire of our heart. God has designed our hearts to fulfill our place in His kingdom. He has placed this core desire to motivate us to the place that has the most profit and gives us the most joy.

The enemy wants to prevent that desire from actualizing. He will give us a counterfeit. God's purpose will gain as much profit in proportion to our grasping and pursuing our desire. Our joy will follow the same way.

Focus of the Heart

Jesus continues His theme of heart focus. What we focus on reveals much about the condition of our heart. What we give our attention to fills our hearts, and conidtions our hearts. And our hearts take on more light ... or more darkness.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Heart Focus

Jesus gave a series of instructions about people conducting spiritual exercises. (Fasting, prayer, giving to the poor, etc.) Some people would conduct these exercises in a way that would draw attention to their piety. Jesus simply states that God doesn’t give a reward for this. The attention from other people is their reward.

However, He seems to always go deeper. He is not concerned with the exercises per se. He is drawing attention to our hearts. What is the focus of our hearts?

The focus of these exercises ought to be the increase of depth, breadth and intimacy of our relationship with God. We can see the focus of the heart by its overflow. Where we expend our time, energy, money, passion and enthusiasm gives shape to our heart focus.