Red Rock News Feb 28, 2025
- Rev. Dona Johnson |March 2, 2025
Throughout Scripture, much has been written on what it means to be wholehearted. Wholeheartedness means to live with your full heart, with “all” of your heart. It means to be fully engaged in what you are doing or with whom you’re spending time with. Christian psychologist Henry Cloud says, “There is nothing better than being all in with all your heart.” If you are half hearted about something this is not something to condemn, he says. It can be a significant sign that your heart is not in the right place.
Grace Pouch, content manager for Renovare writes, “The most famous part of the traditional wedding liturgy is the ‘I do’ or ‘I will.’ These two little words of assent—to give one’s self and have another fully and exclusively—are a Yes that involves a significant No.” Thus, true wholeheartedness (devotion) requires exclusivity. As you give yourself to your spouse, automatically you forsake all others and any activities, rights and privileges that are spousal. As you devote yourself to God, you automatically forsake other gods and take on the exclusive faith practices. Saying no isn’t about being selfish, unkind or dogmatic. Paradoxically, saying “no” helps us create the capacity to say a wholehearted “yes” to the things that count and to things God is calling us to.
God calls us to be wholehearted in our devotion of him. It is God’s number one expectation. It is no surprise that it is the first of his Ten Commandments. “You shall not have any other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38).
Again in Matt. 6:24 Jesus reiterates the danger of being half hearted: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” If taken seriously, how can anyone be genuinely devoted or loyal to a friend, a faith community or a career if their hearts are somewhere else. Sometimes though when we commit ourselves in obedience and our hearts gradually engage and we end up wholeheartedly devoted.
The real dilemma for many of us is that we live in a world with infinite opportunities and unconstrained distractions. It is so easy to allow the world to compete for our souls, a place where only God dwells. Whether it be our daily choices, professions, politics, ministry, or recreational and leisure pursuits, all of these things compete with our wholeheartedness and being “all in” with the Lord and all in with the people around us. Many of us have a well-rehearsed habit holding the things we daily engage in at great distances from what God desires of us. Thus, we live with divided hearts.
Parker Palmer in his book a “Hidden Wholeness,” writes, “We all long to be whole, but dividedness becomes an easier choice. A still small voice continues to speak the truth about me, my work, or my world. I hear it and yet act as if I did not. I break faith with one of my convictions. I keep silent on issues I need to openly address. I often deny my inner darkness, giving it more power over me, or I project it onto other people, creating “enemies” where none exist.” He continues, “dividedness is a personal pathology but it soon becomes a problem for other people.”
There are many benefits to being wholehearted in our devotion to things. First, it deepens our relationships because we are truthful before God, truthful with ourselves and others; we are free to engage our ministries with energy and vitality, our efforts yield good fruit and are multiplied in life-giving ways because our hearts are in it. And lastly, living wholeheartedly produces a life of integrity; as our hearts are unequivocally aligned with God’s call and his desire for us.
Prayer: Lord help me to live wholeheartedly for you. Amen.
- Rev. Dona Johnson |March 2, 2025