Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT
Epiphany marks the arrival of the wise men at Jesus’ crib. It is a great illustration of what is meant by the phrase, “He has planted eternity in the human heart”. These Magi, travelling from the security of their own country and culture in the East, endured hardship and risk simply on a promise they embraced from a reading of the constellations, which they studied professionally. They truly followed their hearts, and found the substance of their promise in the form of the infant Jesus.
It is my promise to myself this year to continue to journey deeper into God’s heart. I already live as a contemplative by choice, out of the strength of my own sense of a personal calling, confirmed by others, to prayer in pursuit of God and seeing God’s kingdom manifest on earth. While, like the journey of the Magi, it makes little practical sense, it offers to me the life of obedience I seek in serving God.
Each of us needs to find and remain walking in the pathway of obedience. It can appear nonsensical to ourselves and to others, yet warms our heart once we embrace and then choose practically to live it. In finding this new life that God offers each one of us we have to take critical decisions. Obedience comes at a price, one that is different for each one of us. We cannot criticise another, for their call is not our call. One indication of the confused and lost character of the world that surrounds us is the way in which individuals are consumed with a desire to pursue common ‘totems’ that society offers us that apparently speak of success both to a watching world and within our own hearts.
It is in making decisions for Jesus and the call within our heart that leads us to the fullness of life that Jesus promised.
QUESTION
Are you fulfilled?
PRAYER
Oh, God, help me to find and remain in your best pathway for my life.
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