Devotionals for the Heart: Why we should surrender our heart to God

Ending the Year Consecrated, Not Calloused
A devotional by Adriana Watt

“God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you.”—Deuteronomy 30:6-7 (MSG)

When an aspiring musician first picks up the guitar, they are painfully aware that their fingertips will need to toughen up. Calluses form on their fingertips over time, allowing them to play comfortably for longer periods, helping them develop greater skill.

The hardening that occurs for a guitar player’s fingers is a positive thing. This is not so with our hearts. Our hearts become calloused through fatigue, sin, or self-protection. This can cause us to become deaf, blind, and hardened to the voice and Word of God (Matthew 13:15).

As we welcome a new year, may our hearts welcome surrender and softness as evidence of true strength in the Lord and His deep love for us. The Lord “will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children’s hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live” (Deuteronomy 30:6 MSG). With the calluses removed, your heart is tender, sensitive, and responsive to God without any barriers. This work of removing the calluses is for our good and His glory.

With this in mind, how do we compassionately assess a calloused heart? We begin by yielding to God and inviting Him to search us and reveal any hidden hardness within (Psalm 139:23–24). In that posture of surrendering to God, we begin to notice how calluses express themselves in daily life. Emotionally, they may appear as bitterness, fear, exhaustion, or defensiveness. Spiritually, they can show up as distraction, disinterest in the Word, or a resistance to yield fully to God’s direction. In relationships, callousness can take the form of pride, critical attitudes, or guarding our hearts against pain. All of these calluses form barriers that hinder us from loving God and others.

As these calluses come into the light, God continues the process of gently removing those hardened areas. The language in Deuteronomy 30:6 is vivid. The Message translation says God will “cut away” while many other versions say He will “circumcise”. Circumcision was performed in Bible times as a covenant sign, symbolizing God’s work of removing hardness from our hearts. Spiritually, this act signifies a covenant with God and expresses consecration to the Lord. Yes, this work is painful, no doubt. Thickened calluses may take longer to be softened one layer at a time. We have the blessed assurance that God is present and close to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). After these layers are removed, He promises a new heart. With sensitive hearts, we create space to pause and reflect further.

Let’s bring our hearts before the Lord with these questions:

● Where has God been faithful in the past year?

● Is my heart soft?

● Is my heart surrendered to God?

● Where do I need to surrender to Him more fully?

● Has this year created calluses upon my heart or made old calluses thicker?

Surrender is strength in the Lord. For surrender to become our response, we need to regularly assess our hearts for hardness. May our hearts, renewed and tender, be ready for worshipping God. May we always be ready to respond in obedience, and ready for intimacy with Jesus Christ. Let us enter the new year fully trusting God with our hearts, surrendering to His work to remove the calluses and to be set apart for Him, with responsive hearts to do the good works He has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).

Let’s Pray: Dear God, Thank You for drawing near to our hearts and for Your promise to remove the thick calluses, giving us hearts that are soft, tender, and responsive to You. Help us let down our guard, surrender fully to Your love, and trust You with every part of our hearts as we step into the new year. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection #1: "New Wine" by Hillsong Worship. Listen to it here.

Song of Reflection #2: "O Come To The Altar" by Elevation Worship. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Adriana Watt, founder of “Framing Your Health in Christ” supports Christian women who find themselves running on empty from pouring themselves out in caring for others struggling with mental and emotional exhaustion and chronic stress because they have forgotten to rest and prioritize their health.

 

She helps them to live a guilt-free, nourishing, full, and sustainable life by helping them climb out of the trenches to see the bigger vision of their calling and God’s purpose for their lives.

Adriana is a gentle and encouraging author and speaker with a critical message for the current caregiver crisis. She is a living testimony of how it is possible to rest in Christ for your strength, healing, and to serve others well without sacrificing your health to feel fully alive again.

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Connect with Adriana:
Website: https://www.adrianawatt.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adriana_watt_wholehealth/
Email address: Care@adrianawatt.com

Devotionals for the Heart: When God's standards for living seem too high

Impossibly High Standards
A devotional by Suzanne Felton

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

—Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

Of all the verses in the Bible, I think I’ve wrestled with this one (above) more than any other. As a perfectionist and rule-follower by nature, I want to be perfect. I want to get everything right every time. I hate making mistakes.

Perfection is the ultimate high standard, so shouldn’t we all strive to be perfect? In this verse (above) spoken by Jesus Christ, the answer is yes. But I’m not perfect. And I can’t be, no matter how hard I try. It’s hopeless.

Romans 3:23 clearly tells us that no one (apart from Jesus) is perfect. It says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NIV). When we fall short of perfection, we tend to start comparing ourselves to others. Either we look for some way to make ourselves feel superior to someone else (thinking: At least I’m not as bad as she is.) or we put ourselves down and feel sorry for ourselves (thinking: Who could love a loser like me?). Neither of these mindsets are pleasing to God.

Part of the problem is that humans tend to define perfection by human standards. It feels good to get a perfect score on a test, play a perfect game, or have a perfect driving record. Those things are nice, but they’re insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But how often do we think in terms of wanting things like the “perfect” job, a “perfect” body, or a “perfect” relationship? We try to meet the world’s standards through our own efforts, but there’s always someone else who we perceive as having more or doing it better than we do.

When Jesus speaks of being perfect, He is not referring to worldly standards. He’s taking about following God’s laws perfectly. The writer of Psalm 119 expresses a longing to follow God’s laws perfectly while knowing that it’s not humanly possible. He wrote, “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees. Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands” (Psalm 119:4-6 NIV).

I think that perfectionism is part of human nature. We all want to get things right. No one likes to fail. But we all do, all the time, and when we measure ourselves honestly by God’s standard of perfection, our failure seems even greater. If we all have an innate desire to be perfect, but none of us can achieve perfection, then why did Jesus tell us to be perfect?

A turning point of understanding Christ’s command to be perfect came for me when I finally read Romans 3:23 and the verse that follows it as one complete thought. It reads, “. . .for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24 NIV). The Apostle Paul wrote the Bible book of Romans. He doesn’t end this sentence after pronouncing us all to be sinners and failures. He writes that, yes, we are all sinners who fall short of God’s standard of perfection, and we are all justified, or made right again, through the death and resurrection of His Son (Jesus Christ).

When we realize that we are all sinners, we can stop comparing ourselves to each other. No one can measure up to God’s perfect standard, and God’s standard is the only one that matters. We’re all in the same boat: equally sinful and equally deserving of God’s punishment. The wonderful news, though, is that we are also all equally loved. God’s gift of salvation through Christ is freely available to everyone who will receive it. Jesus is the way to perfection for all of us.

I love the way The Message version of the Bible translates Hebrews 10:14-15. Scripture reads, “It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.” God is our Creator. He made us, and He knew all along that we would never be able to keep his laws perfectly through our own efforts. I believe He gave us that innate desire for perfection not just to show us how far short we fall, but to draw us to Jesus.

Christ’s command to be perfect in Matthew 5:48 is both a reminder that we all need perfecting as well as an invitation to be perfected by Him. God’s impossibly high standard will never change, but neither will His boundless love for us. Now that’s perfect!

Let’s Pray: Dear God, I know that I fall far short of your perfect standard. Thank You that I am not a hopeless case because I am made perfect through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Lord! In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “How Marvelous” by Austin Stone Worship. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Suzanne Felton has been a writer for most of her life, even before she realized it. 

She has worked in a wide range of settings, from non-profits to science labs to government contracts to educational classrooms, all of which involved writing in one form or another.

Suzanne is amazed by the power of words and now uses her passion and experience to help authors and students as a writing coach. Encouraging others to find the words and the courage to share their stories is one of her greatest joys.

Suzanne’s devotionals have been published in periodicals and blogs including The Upper Room, The Love Offering, Keys 4 Kids, and The Swallow’s Nest. She is also a two-time finalist in the Cascade Christian Writing Contest for poetry.

She is a wife, mother, writer, reader, teacher, deep thinker, and sinner saved by grace. Suzanne and her family reside in Northern Virginia, but Suzanne will always call her native South Carolina home.

Married to her best friend for twenty-five years, Suzanne is active in her church, where she and her husband have served as deacons for over a decade. They enjoy watching sports and visiting national parks with their two teenage sons. Suzanne is also an avid birder, easily and happily distracted by anything with feathers.

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Connect with Suzanne:
Website: https://suzannefelton.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/l_suzanne_felton
Email address: suzannefeltonwriter@gmail.com

Devotionals for the Heart: How to cultivate an attitude of gratitude

Cultivate Gratitude
A devotional by Peg Arnold

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness.”

—Colossians 3:17 (MSG)

It was early in the day when I woke up and went to enjoy my morning coffee.

Sitting on the kitchen counter was a delicious cinnamon roll. My thoughtful husband had gotten up early and traveled out into the wintry weather to buy this sweet treat for me. My mouth was watering as I heated the roll and fixed my coffee. He knew I loved sugary and gooey breakfast treats.

I sat down in a comfy seat in front of the fireplace and took my first bite with great expectation. It was dry, bready, and not as sweet as I had anticipated. The first words out of my mouth were, “What’s wrong with this?” Not a single word of gratitude to my husband for his unexpected efforts but a critical comment with disdain instead.

My husband playfully replied, “Well, good morning to you too, and thank you dear for the unexpected surprise!”

I immediately backtracked and became defensive as I made excuses for why I responded the way I did. When I finally expressed my appreciation, it was a futile attempt. To make matters worse, I have been trying to focus on cultivating a thankful heart and practicing an attitude of gratitude. Instead, I failed to demonstrate appreciation for those whom I love most dearly. It happens when I least expect it and instead of apologizing, I become defensive and try to make excuses. Does this ever happen to you?

It’s easy to express gratitude when everything is going well and we are well-rested. The challenge to be grateful occurs when we are tired, distracted, or our expectations of others have not been met. Some examples you might identify with are when the garbage was taken out of the house but the trashcan in one room was forgotten, or the car was cleaned but the windows were still dirty, or the kitchen has been cleaned but the counters still have crumbs on them. Instead of responding with gratitude for the effort made, we sometimes start complaining and pointing out what was left undone.

Throughout his letters in The Holy Bible, Paul instructs early believers in God who were followers of Jesus Christ not to complain and grumble. He models being content in all circumstances, and thankful in all things. When we respond to others with criticism or defensiveness, it can strain our relationships. In contrast, words and actions of love, appreciation, and sometimes biting our tongues (self-control) can strengthen our personal connections with the people we love.

After I apologized to my husband, I asked for his help in keeping me accountable if I began to complain and grumble again. I realize these are selfish responses that can negatively impact others. Choosing to be content and thankful in all circumstances is not always my first response, but I am working on it.

As we learn to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, may we increase our awareness of how our responses affect those around us. Let us each strive to plant the seeds of thankfulness in all we say and do while learning to recognize and pull out the weeds of discontent, criticism, and defensiveness.

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord,

We want to come to you with a contrite heart. We know we have been selfish in our attitudes and expectations around those we love most. Help us to recognize when we become defensive and critical of others. Teach us how to cultivate the attitudes of love, appreciation, humility, and kindness. Thank You for your patience with me whenever I falter. Help us to demonstrate that same patience You give us to others. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Peg Arnold, Speaker/Author/Teacher is a Drama Queen for Jesus. 

Her vibrant, interactive, and soul-stirring messages encourage all to embrace their God-given value. As a mom, wife, nana, mentor, with a master’s in counseling, she connects on a personal basis by sharing her joys and challenges of many life experiences through her dramas, messages, and witness. Whether talking with a friend over coffee or addressing hundreds of people at a conference, her passion for equipping women is contagious.

She has published devotions on YouVersion and in the Upper Room. In addition, she has contributed to two Chicken Soup for the Soul books, three anthologies, numerous articles, and blogs. Her devotional, Devotions for the Distracted Heart, received a 2022 OASIS award.

Peg desires everyone to know that their story is important and has a purpose. She grew up in Michigan and raised her family in Maryland. Later in life, Peg and her husband relocated close to their family in Colorado.

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Connect with Peg:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnoldpeg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pegarnoldwow
Website: https://pegarnold.org/ Get some freebies when you visit!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51V_iWr0RfGAQvQnWVXEoA
Devotions for the Distracted Heart blog: https://pegarnold.wordpress.com/
YouVersion: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/22261-devotions-for-the-distracted-heart
Holiday YouVersion: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/28680-holiday-devotions-for-the-distracted-heart
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