Seems how everyone still seems to be subscribed here and probably few people regularly check the Director's Blog (I haven't yet made a way to subscribe to it), I figured I should cross-post here and let you know what's been on my heart:

Fallen from your First Love

Discipline to enter the Divine Romance

"I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -- unless you repent." (Rev. 2:2-5)

We speak often of the Jealous nature of God's love and how He will not allow idols to come before Him in your heart. We've seen in Hosea how He "hedges in" his lover until she has no place to turn but back to Him in repentance.

Yet in spite of all this, I find that in my own heart, "other things" (read Mark 4:18-19) have crept in and occupy most of my heart.

Does Jesus really insist on being "my first thought, by day or by night"? In short, yes. But I know that my heart is prone to wander. What can I do? How can I repent and do the deeds I did at first? I think part of the answer is found in Matthew 6:21-23:

"...for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

Matthew 6 is about having a reward in heaven and this particular passage (verses 19-24) is about not serving earthly treasures or storing them up. Right smack in the middle are these three odd sentences about your eye. It's fairly straightforward to not treasure up treasures on earth (don't buy a nice car, a nice house, a nice retirement fund, nice investments, etc). It's also fairly straightforward to store up treasures in heaven (in secret: give to the poor, pray, fast, etc).

But how do I treasure what I'm storing up in heaven and not what I have (or don't have) on earth? I think the Lord is giving us the key here and it has to do with your eyes. If you look at (or think about) treasures on earth, that's what you'll treasure. If you look at or think about treasures in heaven, that's what you'll treasure.

And so it takes mental discipline (choosing what you think about) to treasure that which is worthy. Do you want to treasure the One who is worthy above all else? Do you want to enter the Divine Romance, the one never-ending prayer-conversation with your Savior? Then learn to discipline your thoughts so as to fix your eyes on Him, the One who is worthy of all your heart.

Lord Jesus, forgive me for being so consumed with hobby software projects that I crowd You into the back corner of my mind. Forgive me for not giving you the Place of Honor in my thoughts, for not being disciplined to put You first and to think about You first. Thank You so much for the grace You so freely offer. May I walk in it and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, learn to discipline my thoughts to pray constantly and always be thinking of You.