A Swollen Heart

There is nothing like a swollen heart. Sounds painful right? Wrong! When it comes to loving Jesus Christ it’s the best kind of heart to have; a swelling, overflowing heart of joy. I cannot even begin to explain or describe with enough adjectives what my heart feels for Jesus Christ. There are no words to give my bulging heart proper description. Sadly, it hasn’t always been this way for me, but lately it’s an ever-increasing reality in my life.

My heart isn’t overflowing with love because I’ve made a new best friend or found a new way to a million dollars. While those things are blessings all their own, they will vanish like a vapor, much like our lives. Lately I have been struck deep with the truth of Psalm 39: 4-6. This reality astounds me when I mediate on these few verses.

4 "O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!

5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
Selah

6Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

With these verses before my eyes and entrenched in my heart, in terms of earthly gain, I am starting to care less and less. While my heart still desires earthly blessings, I am increasingly seeing that apart from a thriving, intimate relationship with Jesus none of the other “things” matter compared to eternity with Him. While I’ve known this for as long as I’ve called myself a Christ-follower I’ve never felt it so deeply and in such a real way (real in the sense that this truth can be lived out, not merely known). It directly connects to Ecclesiastes 3:10-12 which says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

It’s as if Christ Himself has begun to more deeply etch the word ETERNITY on my heart over the last few months and the result is astounding. The deeper He impresses the letters, the greater my joy. It’s a word I never want to disappear from my heart's walls, for within this one words stands my future, my Savior and my HOPE.

How’s your heart? Swollen? I pray so.