A Matter of the Heart...

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One of my favorite things to do is sit and talk with elderly people. I find their detailed accounts of past experiences captivating! A few years back, I sat and listened to a man in his nineties tell me all about the life that he had lived. He told me of his long career working for Pepsi and how he had spent many of his days traveling different roads to different towns. He had me convinced that his memories of yesterday were vivid and accurate. Wow! The changes that he had seen throughout his life time... Imagine in ninety plus years, the development we call progress that had taken place. His contrast of the past and present didn’t seem to have any bias nor did I detect any negativity or bitterness about the changes he’d witnessed. He just recollected what and how it used to be but he never disputed that the present was any worse or better than the past.

I am not saying that he didn’t miss the “good old Days." I am saying though, that it seemed to me that he was clever enough to be able to adjust himself to his environment for the sake of survival. I got the impression that he wasn’t the kind of man who would just lie down and die because life refused to stand still to please his sentiment. Through the years he moved with the movement. When things became modern, he bought modern. Do you know what I mean? He bought a modern car and put in a phone. He bought a television and many modern appliances for his wife. He took advantage of what was made convenient and kept living his life for God. He understood that his devotion to serve God was a matter of the heart and not a matter of what was available.

Through the years sin took advantage over the phone, the television, and even cars (gossip, sexual immorality, drunk driving, etc.). It doesn’t seem like the enemy has left anything out or alone. Yet in all these things, the old man had prevailed against the enemy in his walk with God. How? HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS DEVOTION TO SERVE GOD WAS A MATTER OF THE HEART AND NOT A MATTER OF WHAT WAS AVAILABLE! Our choice to follow Jesus will always be based on our desire for Him more than a desire for the sin that the world offers. There will always be enticement and there will always be avenues to sin. The fact remains: we are still drawn away more by what’s in our heart than by what’s in our face!

Loving U Like a Sister,

Regina