I so want the Lord to save them, so want their hearts to fall in love with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Yet, I am reminded how often I focus on their external behavior while leaving their hearts untouched.
I can't save my kids...only the Lord can raise the dead to life, open blind eyes to see His grace, and transform a heart of stone into a heart of flesh....but I do want to be faithful to build a love for Him in their hearts. I want them to see His glory and mercy and beauty and faithfulness and majesty. I want them to see the "good news" for what it is: good, great, mind-blowing...the best news they will ever hear.
I'm reading a super practical, super helpful book by Jack Klumpenhower called "Show Them Jesus" and he says this in chapter 4:
"Our sins are all paid for - not just the few sins we notice but the whole ugly heart that secretly loves them. All forgiven.
The good news takes us daily from despair to astonished laughter. With relief in our eyes we look at the man who's done all this for us. And who do we see? We see the strongest yet gentlest, most regal and yet most humble person imaginable. Most of all, we see the kind of lover we've never known before. Jesus's love for us is pure love. It has nothing to do with us being the least bit lovely. If it did, we'd feel pressure to keep up whatever earned his love. But no, "if we are faithless, he remains faithful" (2 Timothy 2:13). He loves us forever. No payback needed. No conditions. No guilt trips. We are loved, period.
And where that is believed, the heart is won."
True obedience from the heart results from an overflow of love, not duty.
How lovely is Jesus to you? How lovely is He to your children?
"How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord of Hosts. I long and yearn for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God." Psalm 84:1-2
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