The Desires of Your Heart

I wish… I wish… I wish. Isn’t that what you say to a magic genie?
So, what would it be like to just make a wish and have it granted?
In days gone by you might have said “I wish for a million dollars.” Thoughts of riches and all you could buy swirling around in your head.
Of course nowadays, a million dollars could buy you a third of a modest home in Toronto. Money doesn’t go as far as it once did.
Casey and I ordered Chinese the other day and as usual it came with fortune cookies.
When I crack one open I always look for that iconic fortune that says “Help I’m being held captive in a fortune cookie factory.”
Mine didn’t say that yet again, but it did say, “We would often be sorry if our wishes came true.” That got me thinking.
Wishes would be different depending on who is making them of course.
Some people, who have won several million dollars in lotteries, thought their wildest dreams and wishes had just come true, only to blow through that money in no time ending up a lot worse than when they started.
Greed never goes well in life and that is evident in the Scriptures.
1 Timothy 6:9 “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (ESV)
What about wishing for some calamity to fall on those who come against us. We would be assuming that we are somehow better than they are and that they should somehow suffer.
But wait, are we not to examine ourselves and ask for forgiveness for our own sins.
Matt 6:12 “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
We are to love others and pray for those that wrong us. We need to be tenderhearted and forgiving.
That got me thinking about what my wishes would be.
Unlike the genies of Hollywood, our God is not a genie to grant our wishes. But the bible does say if we delight ourselves in the Lord He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
But what does that look like? What are the desires of your heart?
When the genies of Hollywood film grant wishes they are usually for wealth, power, beauty. Each of these things are temporal. Our wishes or desires should be spiritual.
Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (ESV)
God wants us to delight in Him in all ways. He wants to walk with us through this life, to hold us up in our darkest days. We need to love and honour Him in all we do, not just when life is easy. When we do that our wishes and desires change.
We need to focus on Him, not our circumstances and feelings of inadequacies.
I do have one wish: that my loved ones will come to know our Lord Jesus, and trust in Him. That is truly the desire of my heart.