Don’t Walk Away Sad

Today's blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

As our pastor taught us this past Sunday, the first steps to enlarging our capacity to receive God’s love are to identify the wrong things that fill your heart and then release them so He can fill us with His supernatural love.  Our hearts were created to be a vessel, and by design, they must contain something.  But, a heart that is already full has no room to be filled with more of God’s love.

So, I left service feeling challenged and excited to have that conversation with the Lord.  I want Him to show me those things that steal my affections away from Him.  I want Him to show me those things that I love more than Him.

Or, do I?

As I was thinking about having that conversation with the Lord, I was reminded of the story in the bible where a rich young ruler was brave enough to ask Jesus to peer into His heart and reveal where his affections lay.  But, the response of the young ruler is what weighed heavy on my heart.  The story goes like this….

After asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded by saying “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But after hearing Jesus say that, the bible says the rich young ruler “became very sad, because he was very wealthy.” (Luke 18:22-23)

The rich young ruler’s great sadness revealed the tug of war in his heart.  He loved his wealth and was unwilling to part with it.

What if the Lord asked me to release something near and dear to my heart?  Would I be able to say “yes Lord” or would I walk away sad?

Will you join me in asking the Lord to reveal those things that hinder our ability to fully surrender our hearts to Him?  But, before you do, will you also join me in asking the Lord to give us the courage to say yes to Him and release whatever He shows us, regardless of the cost?

In his book The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer said it best when he prayed “Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys.  I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting.  I come trembling, but I do come.  Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.”