Wholehearted

There’s an old worship song that goes,

Lord, I give you my heart,
I give you my soul.
I live for you alone.

Every breath that I take.
Every moment that I’m awake.
Lord, have your way in me.  — Reuben Morgan

It’s a song I often sang in church, and I’m sure there are similar songs nowadays that express the same thought.

But while we say that we give our hearts to God, how much of our hearts are we actually giving to God every day?

For Caleb, he gave his whole heart to God.  And even when popular opinion was against him, he put his complete faith in God, and was determined to follow him no matter what.

So while God condemned most of the people of Israel to wandering around in the desert until they died, he said of Caleb,

But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.  (Numbers 14:24)

A different spirit.

A spirit that says “I believe in God.  I believe he can do anything.”

A spirit that says, “I know that my God is good and that he always keeps his promises.”

And a spirit that says, “Because I know these things, I will follow him no matter what.”

That’s what wholeheartedness is about.

When we believe in God, when we believe he can do anything, when we believe he is truly good, and that he always keeps his promises, then it’s much easier to be wholehearted in following him.

But as long as we harbor doubt about these things, it’s very hard to be wholehearted.  Instead, we always hold something back from God. 

It might be our future career.  It might be our money.  It might be our ministry.  It could be anything.

I know, because I still struggle being wholehearted sometimes.  A lot of times, actually.

It’s so easy to hold things back from God.

But it’s impossible to please God that way.

As the writer of Hebrews says,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6)

How much of your heart does God have?