June 17

Prior to submitting our lives to Christ we have an acute sense of direction—we follow after exactly what we want. There is nothing for which our eyes or our ambition long that we do not endeavor to obtain. We follow our heart in every pursuit and it matters not what means we must use to get it. But the Word tells us that our hearts are deceitful.

Our deepest longings can lead us astray and we don’t even recognize our lost condition until we open ourselves to Jesus and begin to allow the candle of His Holy Spirit to illumine the dark recesses of our longings. When this happens, we will begin to see things differently—we will begin to see not with eyes of flesh but with the eyes of His Spirit.

At that momentous point in our lives, the promise found in Psalm 25:12, 13 can begin to be realized in us: “Who is the man who reverently fears and worships the Lord? That man shall HE teach in the way he should choose and he shall dwell at ease and his offspring shall inherit the land.”

Although our ‘old man’ does not easily relinquish his position of dominion over our desires, the fact that we now want to be like Christ enables HIM to guide our lives in the way they should go. By following Him we are on the path to blessings that transcend time and tap eternity for ourselves and for our progeny.