With My Whole Heart

Have you ever thought you understood a verse in the Bible, then you look at it again and suddenly you are filled with questions? That happened to me recently with a well known verse in Jeremiah, one that I have seen many times. I am feeling particularly challenged by the profound implications of what looks like a rather simple verse.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:13

This is one of a number of verses in the Bible that use the phrase "with all your heart". Seek Him with all your heart. Love Him with all your heart. Serve Him with all your heart. Trust Him with all your heart. In the NLT it usually translates the phrase as "wholeheartedly". In other words, do these things with everything in you. Don't hold anything back. God says, when that's the way you seek me, then you will find me.

It kind of makes me think of a person receiving an Olympic gold medal. That medal represents a level of commitment and sacrifice and discipline most of us have never experienced. The gold medalist has pursued their sport and their goal with their whole heart.

I think there have been times in my life when I have been wholehearted in my desire and devotion to God (beyond what's normal for me, at least). There have been times when I cried out to God, desperate to know Him and totally willing to trust Him. There have been seasons when I wanted nothing more in my life than to serve Him with my very best. Yes, I think there have been times I approached wholehearted devotion.

But to be honest, probably a lot more often my desire to know and love and serve God could more accurately be described as "halfhearted". Those are the times when other things cloud my priorities. They are the times when other things take most of my time and attention, and I am rather content to give God whatever is left over. 

I'm not talking about turning my back on God or falling into sin or anything quite as dramatic as that. I'm talking about the seasons when life just got in the way and I was more focused on "stuff" than on pursuing the Almighty God. The truth is it happens to me a lot and (if I can simply make an observation), I'm thinking it probably happens to other people a lot too. The problem is it's just so easy to get lazy about our devotion to God, and it's so easy to let other things crowd into our lives at the expense of serving God with our whole heart.

I said I have questions about the verse in Jeremiah. Maybe that surprises you. After all, the verse is really just a few words and it looks straightforward enough on the surface, but I'm finding myself pondering two things particularly.

• What does it really mean to SEEK Him with my whole heart?. After all, we're not talking about a game of hide and seek where wholehearted might mean I am absolutely determined to find someone who is just as determined to stay hidden. I don't think God is hiding, so the hide and seek analogy doesn't work. So what does it really mean to seek God, and to do it with my whole heart?

• If I really FIND God, what does that look like? This verse is sometimes used in reference to the unsaved person seeking for God, as the Holy Spirit draws Him. I think there is truth in that application, but I'm not convinced that's all the verse really means. Somehow I think it has to do with the quality of our relationship with God. I feel like part of the answer is that if I seek him as if nothing in the world is more important, the result will be a relationship with God that is far more than the superficial kind of "knowing God" we most often experience and are satisfied with. But if I reach that pinnacle, what will my relationship with God look like? What will that mean to my ability to understand God, love God, hear from God? 

I guess I have another question, but it's not about the verse itself so I won't put it in the list with the others. Here it is. If we ever at any time experience the kind of relationship with God that comes from truly seeking Him with our whole hearts, or even something close,how can we be satisfied with anything else? How can we live with the more halfhearted, watered down kind of relationship we normally seem content with? I am asking myself that question. Having at times drawn so very much closer to God, willing to love Him and serve Him and trust Him with my whole heart, why is it so easy to slip into a much more mediocre kind of Christianity and be okay with it?

This is a subject I need to put a lot more prayer and thought into. For now, I'm just introducing the topic. Do you have any insight into the questions I've asked? Any thoughts on the topic? I'd be so happy to hear from you. Please send in your response below in the "post a comment" section. Let's explore this together.