Just what IS the desire of your heart?

February 15, 2024

Maria Psalm 21 , , , , 1 Comment

You have granted him his heart’s desire …Psalm 21:2 NIV

If the Lord appeared before you and asked you what you wanted, what would you say? Are you prepared to ask for just one desire? Would that tumble off your lips without much reflection?

We just said goodbye to Mom, my mother-in-law, whom I’ve known for 44 years. During that last 2 years, she suffered a lot, almost dying from sepsis during a hospital stay. All along, she was hoping that doctors and medicine would restore her physical capacities. A very human response, for sure. But it looked like her faith was in doctors and drugs.

She did mention to me several times over the past two years (and to other family members) that she was at peace with dying. But I think she was imagining that transition happening one night in her sleep. And in the end, she did slip off to the Kingdom while peacefully sleeping.

But before the Lord granted her that prayer, he led her along a different path, one that involved losing ability after another. When she did pass, she weighed 79 pounds. She couldn’t swallow liquids or food anymore, couldn’t see faces clearly, let alone the written word, couldn’t speak much and wasn’t even able to get herself out of a chair or the bed. And she was totally aware of these losses. Her memory was still intact.

I learned a lot about God walking through this process with her.  I live in a different part of the country, but during her last two years I spent time with her, both in her presence and with daily phone calls.

My desire for her all along was that she would long for Jesus more than anything else. That seeing him face to face would be her primary heart’s desire.  On the last day, she did arrive at that point. Cousin Terry, her niece, named after her, shared the Gospel with her one last time over facetime. She encouraged Mom just to tell Jesus, “I want you, Jesus!”.  I did hear her whisper, for the first time in my presence, “I DO want God!” That was February 9, her last day in that body.

Reading Psalm 21 yesterday, I marveled at this example of a godly man asking for the one thing he wants more than anything in the world. In that same Psalm, God does grant what he petitions. How do we know the writer is ‘a godly man’?  Look at how the Holy Spirit describes him:

The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give! Psalm 21:1 NIV

He is totally God-focused, exalting the Lord and exulting him him. Just what would a man with that kind of heart ask for? We know he’s a king, so he has plenty of ‘stuff’. Could it be physical strength or a happy family, peace with his enemies? We know from verse 3 mentioned above that God did indeed grant his request. 

Here is what the king wanted more than anything else:

He asked you for life, and you gave it to him— length of days, for ever and ever. Psalm 21:4 NIV

That is what Mom now has received. Unending days of LIFE! The life that Jesus came in person to give us. Now, in part, and one day soon, fully-orbed life in his presence.  Jesus wasn’t talking about life as we know it on Earth 1.0 with its first version of bodies, but a different life, one freed from suffering, without corruption, brokenness, or disappointments.

Yet… I’m sad that Mom didn’t get to experience more of that abundant life while she was still with us.  I don’t believe she knew or imagined the kind of love with which the Godhead has for her. She received a meager diet of biblical truth. She only started attending a gospel-rich bible study in her last year, when she moved to Asheville. I thank God for the Baptist pastor, Shekinah, whose church is next door to her former independent living residence.  She began to know in a deeper way our Jesus whom the bible reveals in both the Old and New Testaments. She witnessed someone who was bubbling over with genuine love because she, this pastor, knows how much Jesus loves her. 

A person who has experienced God’s love for him has his desires changed over time.  I want to be like the man in Psalm 21, who knows and seeks one thing. I am sure that this is exactly what God promises to give us.

Do you have one short, compelling Gospel message?

December 9, 2023

Maria Gospel, Jeremiah 31, John 4, Uncategorized , , , 2 Comments

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 NASB 1995

I listened to a podcast conversation the other day about how to communicate more effectively. The interviewee’s top suggestion was to narrow your talk, your writing, your class lesson to one main point.  This should be a pre-determined ‘takeaway’ you want your audience to retain. Of course, you would build up and out from there.  But knowing the compelling ‘what or action step’ should be your first step.

Too often, having listened to a speaker or read an essay or a book, I find I can’t adequately share its impact. I default to telling a friend, ‘I can’t really put it into words, but it was really good, what she said/wrote. And I think you’ll enjoy it.’

This public speaking coach gave an example of the point she wanted an audience to recall after a talk she delivered on managing one’s fears at a corporate emotional wellness conference.  Her takeaway was something like, ‘With fear, do it anyway.’

So, what was MY takeaway from listening to this podcast conversation on how to become a better communicator?  That I need to come up with a simple takeaway that I can use over and over each time I share the gospel.

As we encounter people in our day-to-day life, God gives us occasions to offer something good, true and life-giving about him. For example, when I volunteer at our city’s pregnancy resource center, my role as a counselor is both to share the gospel and help and support a woman or a couple with their decisions about the life of their baby.  I always pray beforehand, that the Lord would lead me to say, to communicate just what that woman or couple need to hear.  I don’t use a ‘canned’ gospel question or presentation.  I actually think they can be a turn off to people.

But reflecting on what is the one takeaway I want everyone I meet to know about God is this. That,

  • God knows you through and through (since he formed you) and that
  • (from the verse above) He has loved you with an everlasting love and is drawing you to himself with lovingkindness.

Don’t we all long to have someone in our life who knows all about us, the absolute worst? AND still loves us?  Is that not the desperate cry of the human heart?  If you doubt this, consider the Samaritan woman at the well. Read her engaging and bold message proclaimed enthusiastically to her entire village. Without shame:

“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” John 4:29 NASB

So, what is YOUR simple gospel message you can easily share.  It has to be something that YOU, yourself, won’t forget. 

Mine is: God knows you through and through and has loved you forever.