You Put Your Whole Heart In, You Take Your Whole Heart Out

Have you ever asked someone to do something for you and had them follow through but only with half-hearted effort?

Don’t you hate that?

When that happens to me I feel torn. I’d like to be grateful to them for doing what I requested but usually I am left wishing they hadn’t bothered. A half-hearted effort is almost a form of lying. It’s like saying “I’m looking like I’m doing what you asked and I’d like credit for doing what you asked but I’m not really doing what you asked.”

I’m learning that God isn’t thrilled with half-hearted efforts either. You’d think with so many people ignoring Him, He’d be happy with any efforts made in His directions but that’s not what He’s about. If you’re following Him, He wants all of you and He’s not willing to settle for any less.

And who can blame Him? Half-heartedness is not only a form of lying,

It’s a form of laziness (I don’t want to have to work at this)

It’s a form of cowardice (I want to hold back a little in case this doesn’t work out)

And It’s a form of apathy (I sort of care about this but not really).

So, God doesn’t turn His back on our half-hearted efforts but He’s rewards whole-hearted living for Him. There was an old king mentioned in 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 “This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”NIV

He worked whole-heartedly. That’s how I want people to work for me. That’s how I want to be loved. That’s how I want my children to obey me. That’s how I want others to listen to me and to receive me. It makes perfect sense that it’s what God wants from those who love Him.

Are you holding back? I know I am in many ways. But when I think about being on the receiving end of half-hearted effort, it motivates me to release the lazy, fearful, stingy, unfeeling grip I keep on the other half of my heart and go all in with any work I do. Just one look at the God’s handiwork reminds me that He puts His whole heart into everything and, one day, I hope to be just like Him.