Word-Filled Wednesday ~#135~ Jealous Heart

"Now the body is not made up of one part but of many . . . But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body . . . I one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." ~selected verses from 1 Cor. 12:14-21

The other day, one of my best friends, Balinda, and I were driving to the farm stores together. I love our drive time together ~ she's such a sweetheart and we often talk about the ways the Lord sees us through our problems. We talk about how much we love the church our families started attending together at the end of last August, but so much of our conversations revolve around the ways the Lord is working in our lives. Sometimes, He takes us on roads we would rather not travel, but He ALWAYS walks with us and paves the way before us.

A route that the Lord has taken Balinda and her husband on was a time when her husband was having some very serious heart troubles. Two weeks after his surgery, where his heart had to be stopped during the process, he went into "afib" (atrial fibrillation ~ a fluttering of the heart that can be dangerous). As Balinda was telling this story, the part that struck my heart was something the Dr. said: "The heart is very jealous. It will let you know when it's been touched." 

Isn't that incredible?! 

The Lord has made all of our parts with specific "talents," with specific work to carry out inside our bodies, you could almost say that they have "personalities." And if anything interferes with the work they are supposed to do they "get mad." They become "jealous" that their job has been interrupted. 

Our heart can take us in many different directions ~ "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) But "Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, Whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God." (Ex. 34:14) Once Jesus is acknowledged as our Savior and Lord, His heart ~ which loves us above anyone else ~ protects and guards our heart. 

God's heart is jealous for our heart. We are His bride and He preparing us ~ our hearts ~ to love Him here and in heaven for eternity. He has loved YOU with an everlasting, never-ending love (Jeremiah 31:3) which is drawing you closer to Himself with every beat of your heart. Just as we walked toward our husbands on our wedding day, everyday ~ every heartbeat ~ the wooing and encouragement of the Holy Spirit brings us closer to meeting Jesus face-to-face. To spending eternity worshiping God when our faith becomes sight (1 Cor. 13:12). 

Is your heart jealous for the things of God, today? Do you feel the skip in your heartbeat when you realize that earthly treasures are competing with our devotion to our Lord? 

I hope my heart is forever jealous of the things of God. I hope that my heart will forever know when it's been touched of God.

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><