​
I have had my ups and downs since then, and my fair share of failures. All of us are far from perfect. I still do things that I wish I did not do. But I have been determined to try and follow the Lord with all my heart and be fully committed to him.

To be ‘fully committed’ with ‘all your heart’ means 100% commitment. It means seeking to do what the Lord calls you to do. It means rooting out anything that is bad – ruthlessly tearing down the high places and getting rid of the other gods in the midst of life.

The Lord is looking for those whose ‘hearts are fully committed’ to him (2 Chronicles 16:9). The psalmist prayed, ‘Give me an undivided heart’ (Psalm 86:11). The expression ‘all your heart’ appears many times throughout the Bible. For example, you are to do the following things ‘with all your heart’:

Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Matthew 22:36–38)
Trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5)
Obey the Lord (Psalm 119:34,69; 1 Chronicles 29:19)
Praise the Lord (Psalm 111:1; 138:1)
Work for the Lord (Nehemiah 4:6; Colossians 3:23).

This is how to enjoy life and life in all its fullness (John 10:10). It’s a life of love, trust, gratitude, joy and meaningful work. In the passages for today we see why and how we should live wholeheartedly.

     The vision of Hope Lutheran is to FLOW in the grace of Christ Jesus through: Faith, Love, ​Outreach and
Worship.
​     With these four ideals and commands of Christ we go forth to further the Kingdom of God.

​
Psalm 8:3-4 - When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?
The greatness of God, so obvious to anyone with eyes to see, reminded the psalmist of the comparative insignificance of man. The Bible does not overrate man, nor does it underrate him. According to Scripture, man is not an accident. In spite of everything you might think, you are not here by chance. To God you are not an incidental side issue, even in this vast universe. You are a man or a woman, a boy or a girl—and you are important to God.

Look about you and what do you see? Sadly, there's a whole world of people trying to live as if there were no God, without any recognition of God and certainly no dependence upon Him. There are people who think it is beneath them—somehow an insult to their intelligence—to talk about God or to have faith in Him.

But when we look at Jesus, we begin to understand what the psalmist is saying. We see how mindful, in fact, God truly is of man. By His own design, and in fulfillment of His own purpose, God sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to be a real Man among us. God made Him a little lower than the angels to live His human life just for us (see Hebrews 2:7). Living unto God, Jesus did for us what we could not: save us from our sins.

Look about you and see the glory of God. Lift up your eyes and behold the Lord of the universe in the world He has created. Lift up your eyes to a hill from our own history, and know, positively, that God cares. Look at the Man dying there, I mean really dying, and be sure that God is talking to you through that Man.

Look at Jesus Christ, and you begin to understand what all of this really means: "When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" Yes, God is indeed mindful of you and me. So much so that in Jesus Christ, the living God suffered and died for the sins of us all. He died to make things right. He died that you might be forgiven. He died and then He rose again in victory over death.

The Father invites you to trust in His Son. You can trust Him because He cares for you. He wants you, just as you, are to be renewed—restored by His redeeming power that comes to every person who trusts in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Pray with me: Heavenly Father, thank You for being mindful of us in the sending of Your Son. In His Name we pray. Amen.