Desires of the Heart
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the in heritance; for you serve the Lord Christ – Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV.
The NIV puts Colossians 3:23 as: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the DESIRES OF YOUR HEART. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. – Psalm 37:1-6 NKJV.
Kevin Abosch is one of the most sought after photographers in the world. Kevin has photographed some of the most famous actors and actresses. He has also photographed many successful business people. However, Kevin’s real passion is taking photos of potatoes. Can you make money doing that? Apparently, Kevin is able to do that. He recently sold one of his potato photos for more than one million dollars. His studio has this statement about the potato obsession: “Kevin likes potatoes because they, like people, are all different yet immediately identifiable as being essentially of the same species.” (Business Insider 01.20.16)
What is it that you are passionate about? If it is something that honors God, we are given a great promise in Psalm 37:4 that He will give us the desires of our heart. Now I may have a desire to take photos of potatoes and make millions of dollars; but I know, and you know, that this is not a desire of the heart that God is talking about. Psalm 37 desires of the heart are desires that God has placed inside of us. This kind of a heart desire is like the call of God upon the heart of Abraham. Stephen tells of Abraham’s call, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell (Acts 7:2-4 NKJV).”
It is easy to become distracted from where our true focus in life should be. There are the allures of the world; and, our neighbors and friends may have more than we do stirring up envy and jealousy. There are evil people who will attack you or cheat you. This has happened to me at times that I have been attacked or cheated. Sometimes, these things are happening and we do not become aware of them until later. But it still hurts, that even people you have trusted, and say they are believers could act in such harmful ways. God tells us what to do when we are in these situations: “Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Don’t fret; don’t vex your righteous soul as Lot did (2 Peter 2:7-8) with the things of this world or the actions of the evil-hearted. Instead, do this: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.”