2 minute read.
Daily Reading: Jeremiah 26:1-27 ESV, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 ESV, Psalm 85:1-13 ESV, Proverbs 25:16 ESV
Daily Verse: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV)
KATEUTHUNO (2720): “This word means to make straight, remove all hindrances in order to guide or direct.”[1]
Make straight.
God makes our paths straight when we let Him direct our hearts. We will feel the twinge inside when starting down the wrong road. Like a pinprick, my heart winces when I turn in the wrong direction.
Since I run the website for our tennis academy, I handle registration. Physical space limits the class size; they fill up immediately. Chaos ensues as I try to untangle the rapidly firing emails. Unintentional miscommunications happen.
When fall registration opened, I received an email from an unhappy parent. The immense traffic to the website caused a crash in the payment system; as a result, her daughter didn’t get into the class.
God’s guidance.
Reading the angry email caused my blood to stir. If you’ve read “Three Word Prayers for Everyday Living,” you know I struggle with anger issues. Accusing me of things I didn’t do, my fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard with a response.
But then God. My heart felt a ping as I reread my words. Anger screamed from the screen, and I knew I didn’t want to head down that road. Backspacing does show maturity when it comes to written communication.
And so, I backspaced, and prayed, then answered with love.
When God directs our hearts, He makes our paths straight. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians also applies to us. May God direct your hearts today to His love and Christ’s steadfastness.
If your heart winces when you head down the wrong path, listen to it. Our connection with God happens in the heart.
[1] Strong, J., & Strong, J. (2010). The New Strong’s expanded exhaustive concordance of the Bible. Greek Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 135) Thomas Nelson
