A Whole Heart

King David prayed for his son Solomon as he made the transition to step down from the monarchy and make Solomon the new king. In his prayer David voiced these words, 1 Chronicles 29:19 (NASB) 
¹⁹  and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision."

The word whole means complete, blameless, wholly devoted. Today we turn our attention to our own hearts. I wonder how much of our hearts does the Lord have? Do we serve with one quarter of our hearts, less, one half, or maybe even three quarters of it. There are those who serve God with a whole heart. They love God most. They are most passionate about Him and His will.

People give their whole hearts to all sorts of things. Education. Romance. Professional achievement. Sports. Children. Grandchildren. We understand the principles of devotion, discipline, sacrifice in order to achieve a worthy goal. What about in seeking and serving God.

Does God not demand that we love Him with a whole heart. Matthew 22:37 (NASB) 
³⁷  And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

We are called to serve Him wholeheartedly as well. Matthew 16:24 (NASB) 

²⁴  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

 That requires commitment. That requires a whole heart bent on following and pleasing the Lord even when the going gets difficult.

Just imagine if congregations worshipped with a whole heart during services. Imagine the kingdom impact if people served in vocational and volunteer ministries with a whole heart. Imagine how many kingdom dollars would be collected if people gave financially with a whole heart. Impinge the impact on our nation if followers of Jesus all over the nation prayed with a whole heart. 

Sadly, in the end, Solomon's heart became divided. He married foreign women and they turned his heart from God. BEWARE! Has Satan slipped something or someone into your life that is slowly dividing your heart and turning you away from God. God demands and deserves each of us give Him our whole heart.