March 29

God wants us to think as He thinks, act as He acts because we love as He loves. He wants us to have a “heart connection” to Jesus. Indeed, when we turn our lives over to the Lord, we say that we have given our heart to Him. The heart is the seat of dominion from which Christ Jesus is allowed to reign in our lives.

When He has been enthroned there, He expects certain changes to be made in our attitudes and in our actions. We will step away from the mirror of life that contemplates only our appearance in the eyes of men and in our own eyes. We will no longer seek to look good to the world; we will want to be good in the eyes of the Lord.

When we have assumed the attitude that sets our feet on the path of loving and serving Him as we proceed through this Vale of Tears toward our home in Glory, we will discover tasks to be done in the behalf of His Kingdom. Most of those jobs He designates to us along our way will involve our interaction with other people. The Lord will want us to reach out to the lost and guide them to His salvation. He will want us to speak words of truth to the deceived, words of comfort to the down-trodden. He also wants us to strengthen those believers who are weak in faith.

Jesus extends a special blessing to the one who reaches out to encourage those who are overwhelmed with the cares of life to the point of faltering in their faith. In Psalm 41:1 we are assured, “Blessed is the man who considers the weak and the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble.” When our heart reflects God’s hope and power to the weak and poor in spirit, to the downcast among us in the community of faith, it is then that we are extending His love to them most completely. It is then that His promise of blessing from Him at our own time of need is assured.