Is your heart divided?

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -Matt 6:21

Every day as I seek after the face of God, to have an undivided devotion to Him alone, I am brought to a place where I have to continually examine my heart and ask the Lord to search me inside to see if there is anything hindering my purity from seeing Him. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matt 5:8) Normally it's a dangerous prayer to ask because I know that the Lord will then take pieces of my weaknesses, my past mistakes and even things that I start idolizing and I'll trip out at first trying to hide but then the Lord then calms me with His peace saying, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Romans 8:1) But at that moment when he allows the filth to be filtered it must be claimed in the name of Jesus or else you'll end up just digging yourself in a hole that you just dug up yourself. But this is the hard part... having an undivided singleness of heart for the Lord. Many of us, myself included, will have times of division towards the things and pleasures of this world as well as a heart that is being pulled by the Lord.. I've been going through a book called: LOVE the more excellent way by Pastor Chuck Smith and he explains more thoroughly about this division of heart that I'd like to quote, he says,

"The Lord cannot tolerate a lukewarm spiritual condition. He doesn't want a divided heart. He doesn't ask to be just a part of your life. He doesn't want you to include Him among the other gods you worship. He desires that you give Him your whole heart, soul, mind and body- everything! You cannot live after the spirit and walk after the flesh at the same time. It simply does not work that way. These are mutually exclusive. You have to choose one or the other."

Lukewarm water occurs when you turn on both hot and cold taps, it's a mixture of the two. So I leave you with this question: What is taking the place of your heart today? Is it wholly devoted to the Lord or is it seeking for something more within the world of materialism, idolizing a person, a trend, a lifestyle that has nothing to do with God? Or are you divided like the people of Hosea's era? Going to church Sundays, lip servicing the right songs, looking like a good Christian on Sundays but during the week having nothing to do with God because your hearts are occupied with the many other gods you've set up on the altar of your heart. Yeah, we don't have wooden idols as the old testament times but we do have idols nonetheless. It happens ALL the time and divided hearts are always left: uncommitted, unsure of who he/she is, lukewarm and miserable.... Why put yourself through that kind of misery by living a double lifestyle? Choose today in whom you will serve....! Choose God, he "loves you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3)

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Matt 6:24)

Although you may be able to fool people and even yourself with words, but you can NEVER use them to fool God.

-Live Productively