A few weeks ago, in a sense of brokenness, I asked God to change my heart. It wasn’t the fact that my life is not going well. I just feel unmotivated.
How often would I pray to God for external things or to change my external circumstances. Like for a new car if I do not have one or for better job if my boss sucks (he ain’t, so that’s cool).
And the funny thing is God will answer what we ask. Yet, how often we ask God to fix one part of our life. God does His thing. Then we move on and ask God to fix another point in our life. Is this who God is? The ever Fixer for our endless tasks on the To Do list?
What if the problem is not our circumstances or what we are facing.
What one need to be fixed is our heart?
What if the heart is the source of the problem? Even when we don’t realize that it is broken and is sinful in the first place (Jeremiah 17)
The truth is external things will never satisfy us. What’s external things? Food, money, sex, power, relationship…it is all sold to us as a false promise that satisfy.
Ok, let me take a step back. What if someone is a ‘Christian’ or going through struggle right now, should one pray for God to make things better?
What if to make things better is to ask the almighty God to change our heart instead of changing the circumstances?
And I keep thinking…well more like praying..for God to change my heart. Don’t change my circumstances. Change my heart so I will rejoice in Him alone. Change my heart so I find delight in the ministry I was bestowed upon. Change my heart so I won’t be distracted with earthly things and continue on seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness.
Our God is a great heart transplanter (Ezekiel 36:26). Our God is sovereign. And He answers our prayers (Matthew 7:7-12)
And that’s crazy and exciting…because when God changes people’s heart..they are transform. Need evidence? How about the twelve apostles? Or Peter. A fisherman who deny Jesus three times and later boldly proclaim the gospel in front of the eyes of Jesus’ killers with no fear or hesitation. Or Paul, from a Christian killer to dying for Christ. WOW!
One of my seminary prof once said…”we have to be careful how we bargain with God..b/c He will give us exactly what we ask.“