“Follow your heart,” someone says. That makes sense, considering all the other things that lead us around. But the advice has another angle: Consider how often we follow not our own heart, but someone else’s, living up–or down–to their desires and expectations for us.
There is one heart we should pay attention to besides our own and that’s the heart of God. We attend to God’s heart, not out of duty, but because God’s deepest desires for us are our own, if only we realize it. The fourth-century African Christian Augustine put the matter memorably: “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Why? He continues, “You have made us for yourself.”
May you find yourself deep in the heart of God.
This message was adapted from a 2008 Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine Bible study by Martha E. Stortz. Today we remember Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who died in 430; and Moses the Black, monk, martyr, who died around 400. Do you enjoy these free Daily Grace messages? If so, donate now to further the ministry.