Set Your Heart
A devotional for the Lent season
John 1:14–18 (TPT)
And the Living Expression became a man and lived among us! And we gazed upon the splendor of his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father overflowing with tender mercy and truth!John taught the truth about him when he announced to the people,
“He’s the One! Set your hearts on him!
I told you he would come after me, even though he ranks far above me, for he existed before I was even born.”
And now out of his fullness we are fulfilled!
And from him we receive grace heaped upon more grace!
Moses gave us the Law, but Jesus, the Anointed One, unveils truth wrapped in tender mercy.No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor except the uniquely beloved Son, who is cherished by the Father and held close to his heart. Now he has unfolded to us the full explanation of who God truly is!
Devotional
Whew! That passage is breathtaking. If you need to, just sit and soak it in again.
Have you ever had your heart set on something?
I mean… have you really had your heart so tied up in something that it would disappoint you to not get it?
I have set my heart on many things in my life.
For a while, my heart was set on being a professional baseball player (ha!).
At one point, my heart was set on becoming an anesthesiologist (only because I heard they made a lot of money).
I have set my heart on relationships that I thought were good for me.
I have set my heart on fleeting fulfillment and places that turn up empty.
Every time I go fishing, I set my heart on the possibility of catching fish and I ALWAYS come up empty.
Just last fall, I set my heart on a ministry job I really wanted. I prayed about it a little bit, but more than anything, I set my heart on the idea of church planting in a young, growing area.
Literally all of the things I just listed are things that did not work out.
They did not come through.
And I was left to pick up the pieces of disappointment and resentment because the thing I had given my heart to was not giving anything back to me.
I know this from experience, friends: setting your heart on temporary things is a recipe for an empty lifestyle.
I love it when John the baptist is speaking to the people in today’s passage. He literally says, “He is the One. Set your hearts on Him.”
It’s almost like John knows that the Human heart needs to be set on something.
There’s this huge moment in time when Jesus — the living expression of God and the Word of God comes into our world and John goes, “Oh yea… that’s Him. THAT is where you can set your heart.
I also know this from experience: setting your heart on Jesus, HIS plans, and HIS promises is a recipe for a full and rich lifestyle in relationship with God.
Jesus really is the only thing worth setting our hearts upon…he will never disappoint.
Think about it… the one time that it seemed like He was disappointing people by dying, He was actually redeeming the world and conquering death.
See, we don’t always understand the plan or the way that God is going to fulfill His mission, but we do know that He is trustworthy — and He is trustworthy enough to take care of your whole heart as you set it on Him.
For lent today, I am giving up control of my heart. I am setting it on Jesus and putting all the hope for my life in His hands.
Prayer
Lord, help us set our hearts on you today. We want to trust you in intimate and deep ways. Show us how to do that. Show us how to grow closer in intimacy with You, Lord.
Holy Spirit, empower us to become like John the Baptist as we go out in the world and remind everyone that Christ is “the One” and we can set our hearts on Him.
Originally published at www.betterstorycollective.com.
