My Father’s World

Lord, my head is full of Your beautiful truths. Knowledge about the gospel, Scriptures, the trinity, the sacraments, salvation, and more are packed into my brain, lovingly placed there by pastors and professors and parents and authors and friends. I marvel at these amazing things.

And yet, when these truths make the long trek down from my head to my heart, they too often find the door bolted shut. Locked. Barricaded. Because my foolish heart won’t accept these things that seem too good to be true. My heart, ever suspicious, shuts out the truth.

The cross is too gruesome for my foolish heart’s gaze, so it looks away. Your resurrection is too glorious for it to behold, so it hides in the comfort of familiar lies. These lies have been holding my heart since childhood, telling it that Your love comes only from obligation, that Your goodness is for everyone except me, that I must be good in order to be loved, that the gospel is foolishness—not because it is outdated or cruel or backwards, but because it is simply too good to be true. And my foolish heart believed them.

My head protests every lie, tearing them down with Truth—that, because of the gospel, I am loved without measure, holy in Your eyes, and close to Your heart. I have put my trust in Jesus, and that truth does not rise and fall with my feelings. But my foolish heart is unconvinced. It clings to the lies as though they are its most prized possessions, and the king of lies rejoices.

Lord, cancel his party. Destroy the grip these lies have on my heart. Break down the barricades I have built, and let Your truth make its home in my heart. Let the path between my head and my heart become a well-worn highway as these mind-blowing truths move in and take up residence. Help the knowledge of You permeate everything in me, making my foolish heart alive and new by Your wisdom. • Taylor Eising

• Can you think of a time when a truth you knew in your mind didn’t feel true in your heart? While putting our trust in Jesus is more important than feeling these truths, it’s okay—and even good—to want to feel them. And we all experience these disconnects sometimes. God is patient with us, and as we seek Him, He gently frees our hearts from lies.

• Today’s devotion models how we can tell God what we’re feeling and ask for help. If it’s really true that God invites us to be honest and messy with Him, how might this affect the way we pray?

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Ps.8|Ps.33.6|Ps.119.73|Ps.139.14