Every Beat of My Heart (Devotional)

I once heard a joke by professional golfer John Daily, “God only gave me so many heartbeats…I don’t want to rush them.” What started as a joke that I laughed at has been weighing on my mind. Like all good jokes, there is a truth to it. The truth is that we only have so much time. If God tarries, our hearts will only beat so many times. With this thought, I decided to go forward in two areas: Heart and beat.

What does heart mean?

Many of us understand that the large muscle in our body that we call a heart is not exactly what the Bible refers to when we think of the heart. However, we may still quote a great verse like Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your understanding.”

Typically, I teach a verse like this to trust God with all my emotions. With my highs and lows! I should lean into (or trust) His understanding, especially when I can’t see what God is doing in my life (also see Isaiah 55:8-9). But what if we changed the meaning of “heart” to mean “our life?” We might have stumbled upon a closer meaning. Will we trust the Lord with all of our life? “All our life” would entail our energy, desires, and everything within us. And tying it back to the first thought, I only have so much life. Let me trust God with it all!

With every beat?

I don’t think it’s out of context to ask, do I trust God with every beat of my heart? Or do I trust God with all of my time?

We are only given so much time on this earth; we cannot shorten or lengthen it. So, how many beats are wasted? Or how many beats are done to the Glory of God? (You know I had to squeeze 1 Cor 10:31 in somewhere!)

This is the opposite of what the world tells us, “Follow your heart” or even “Dance to the beat of your own drum.” When I think about Proverbs 3:5, it says, “I will put my heart (all of my life and time) under the leadership of God.” The goal for my life is to trust God not just with the next beat but with the leadership of my life wherever the path may go.

Pastor Mark’s Take away:

This devotion comes as I think about the amount of time that I waste. The amount of time spent endlessly scrolling social media and YouTube to find something that may entertain me for a few moments. And while that time may be gone, how can I change for the next day? How might I use that time to glorify God better?

I pray that this devotion motivates you to spend your time more wisely in the future.