January 4, 2025 Devo

January 4th, 2025

“Walking Through the Psalms”
“But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” – Psalm 1:2 (NLT)
“It Starts with the Heart”

“It starts with the heart.” That’s the title for my message this Sunday as I kick off a new sermon series called “Closer.” James 4:8 says, “Come close to God and God will come close to you.” The big idea behind my sermon series is talking about how we do that. Where does drawing close to God begin? Well, “It starts with the heart.”
Notice in our passage today that the psalmist says that godly people “delight in the law of the Lord.” Delight. Isn’t that a great word? What that means is that godly people love to know about God. They want to know what God wants, and they want to do what God wants them to do. They believe that God’s way is not only right and true but that it is BEST for them. Therefore, there is JOY in following God. It PLEASES them to know that they please God.
Wow. Camp on that thought for a while. Do you want what God wants, or do you find yourself trying to convince God to want what YOU want? Does it bring you joy to do things your way or do you get joy out of knowing you’re doing things GOD’S way? Can I give you a marital analogy? Did you marry someone because you thought they would make you happy, or did you marry someone because you loved them so much that you wanted to spend your life making THEM happy? Now, think about this: How amazing would a marriage be if BOTH people were so in love with each other that they spent their lives trying to make each other happy?
That’s the relationship God invites us to. He already delights in us. He already knows us completely, pursues us daily, and loves us unconditionally. We are not a burden to Him. We are not an obligation to Him. We are a DELIGHT to Him. He loves to be with us, seeks ways to bless us, and has sacrificed everything for us to be with Him. And what does He want in return? He wants us to delight in Him.
I hope you will turn to God today. I hope you will open His Word, seek His face, and choose His paths. But I hope more than anything you will spend some time thinking long and hard about His unbelievable love for you. And I hope that love draws you like a magnet to want to be fully and completely His. Because that’s the essence of what godliness is. It starts with the heart. That’s God’s Word for you today.