When the World Captures Your Heart
“You adulterous people! You do not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
| James 4:4 |
This is probably one of the hardest to admit. But I know I am not the only one who walked this. Some are walking it now not knowingly.
I was one. One who walked it not knowingly, not once, but a few times. But the Lord, as gracious and merciful that He is, led me to the Brooke and gave me the water my thirsty soul needed. Showing me the idols within my own heart to tear them down and allow my heart to have Christ on the throne of my heart. Reminding me of my first love. Him.
My home. I want it to be a safe place, a haven, for my kids, my marriage, for others.
Pinterest came along. Instagram came along. And there I had it. Losing my sight of the Lord and the world beginning to capture my heart. Wanting my home cozy and cutely decor’ed out. I wanted people to walk in and say, “wow look at this home it’s so cozy and cute!” I wanted to welcome people in and immediately they felt secure, safe, welcomed. Though it was not necessarily bad, it was more of my heart wanting to cozy it all up with decor and needless things when it’s the presence of the Lord that should be the main source in the home.
The world captured my heart all through the scrolling and comparing my home to hers.
Then it happened again. The world capturing my heart once again by viewing another persons kids who seemed well clean, well put together, doing all the activities and things I know I could not afford to do. There I found myself, spending money trying to “keep up” when I knew very deep I should not be. Instead of stopping and allowing truth to come into my heart, allowing JESUS to capture my heart, I was allowing the world to capture my heart. Ads and campaigns. Sales and offerings. It all screams “you need me!”
Maybe it happened to you too friend. Or maybe it’s happening now. And it hurts you deeply and immensely. You so want to get out of this worldly living and live all for Christ. You want to so badly just say no but it’s so hard. I get it. I hear you. And our Lord does too. I am quite embarrassed to even admit to you this, but I want to share the blunt honest truths with you so that you can have some hope too!
I allowed these worldly things take root deep within my heart one scroll at a time. I didn’t guard my heart nor my time with the Lord. I didn’t dwell on the Word of God nor allowed it to sink deep into my heart. When I was feeling empty, I’d search and scroll. Only to say “it’s my downtime.” In all reality, I could be reading the Word of God, be in prayer, or even read a book that is insightful and has some great wisdom in it. But instead, I chose to scroll away and allowing the worldly things captivate my heart when JESUS should be captivating my heart.
I allowed vanity to take root. I allowed the things of this world to capture my sight. I allowed it in with the windows of my eyes, not protecting my eyes and heart. Now I am not saying we should have nothing. BUT when we are so consumed in it, with not truly wholeheartedly following Christ, we have some idols that needs to be cleared away.
So how did we get here?
- By not guarding our time in the Lord.
- By choosing the not so better portion.
- By not letting Jesus capture our hearts.
- By wanting wanting wanting, pretty much grumbling at the “more” we want and think is needed.
If you are married, let me share this with you. The same way that our husband captured our heart either on the first date or the second, even at the altar, Jesus should be capturing ours much like this too, but daily.
It all comes down to one thing, we lost the fire of our first love.
And that is the main true reason of how we got here. How the world captured our heart and not Jesus. We forgot about our first love. We forgot the burning fire of a love we had for him and just continued to move along and slowly began to fade into the world as the world screamed our names.
We lost sight, vision, remembrance of our first love. And that is how we truly got here by losing our first love. We must have a deeply devoted relationship with the Lord daily. Daily pursuing him. Daily drinking from the Brooke. Daily communing with Him.
Oh how heartbreaking it is to be married to our first love only to fall in love with someone (something) else. (Metaphorically I am speaking of us loving Jesus then falling out of love to fall in love with the world and the things in this world.) This is adulterous in the eyes of the Lord, James 4:4.
Being married to the world, or as scripture says, friendship with the world makes us an enmity of God James 4:4. The Latin root from enmity is enemy. It’s a deep-rooted hatred. And because we have lost sight of our first love (Jesus) and began to love another (the world) this is where the Lord says, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth,” Revelation 3:16.
We cannot be of the world just because we live in the world. We are to live in the world but not be of it. Look like it. Desire it. Want it. Love it. We are to delight, desire, passionately wholeheartedly pursue the Lord. The only King above all other kings who deserves our praise and glory. The only one who can grant us life each passing day. The only one who could save us from our wretched self. The only one who can transform, change, renew us within. The only one in whom we can dwell among in his presence.
So how do we know if the world has captured our heart?
I will share a few questions for you to answer.
- We keep up with all the latest trends, pursuing the worldly things and looking like the world rather than reflecting Christ. Do you find all the trends to be kept up to date? Are they reflecting Christ in anyway? Has Christ mentioned it was okay to do? “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” | Ephesians 4:24 | “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” | 2 Corinthians 2:18 |
- We don’t pursue Christ but the world. What has captured your heart, something you turn to on your downtime, something you seek quite a bit? “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” | 2 Timothy 2:22 |
- We don’t guard, protect our time with the Lord. The relationship we must protect and daily build. How do you spend your time with the Lord? Is it once a week, daily, when you have “enough” time? “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” | John 15|
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” | James 4:8 | - We seek worldly pleasures to fill our hearts and not allow Christ to fill our empty hearts. Do we make long target, Walmart, Costco, Starbucks (insert your main place you go to) runs just to fit in? Do we buy needless things just to fill our downtime or emptiness? “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” | Matthew 6:33 |
- We allow other things to capture our eyes and not Christ. Do you find yourself comparing your home, your parenting, your kids, the things you don’t own but want to, to others? This allows the root of discontentment to plant in our hearts which later blooms to envy and bitterness. | James 4 |
- We fill our minds with the world and not the Word of God. Do you feed your mind with the worldly things such as mindlessly scrolling on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon Prime, or any other sort of thing? We should be dwelling on the Word of God to feed our souls, our Spirit, our mind and heart. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” | Philippians 4:8 |
These are just some of the things that I have found helpful in my walk with Christ. Though, I am not perfect, I have learned that when my mind wants to scroll away, not be focused in the Lord, I have to pause and begin to worship my Lord. I have to pause and pray. When at times my mind wants to interrupt my time with God, I have to stop it immediately and dwell on Him. I must be reminded of the love He has for me and the love I have for Him.
When we love someone, we do all we can to protect that love, to make them feel loved (though we don’t need to do this with God), to date, to shower them with gifts, we speak their love language. Us, on the other hand, should shower the Lord with delight by abiding in Him. | John 14 |
He takes great delight when we become the woman after his heart. He takes great delight when we pursue holiness and righteousness and him solely. And may we be just that dear sisters in Christ. Being the woman who walks diligently in His ways, pursuing our Lord and Savior, savoring the Savior daily, passionately and wholeheartedly seeking his face. May we submit to Him daily and guard our hearts, minds, eyes, and time with our Lord and Savior.
May the Lord of all abundance, fill our hearts with more of Him and may he lead us to become more like him stripping off the world so we become more Christ like.
A resource to help:
The Art and Cost of Following Jesus | an article I wrote for a friends blog to reassure us what this walk entails and should be. One that the Lord showed me personally.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Nicole is a devoted follower of Christ, wife to Leroy in whom they have 6 beautiful children, four daughters and twin miracle boys. She loves the sounds of nature, her sweet Texas living, all things gardening, and making friends. She loves to help other women know the love of Christ and become the deeply rooted woman in Christ who walks in His ways through all that they faces. You can connect with her on instagram: @lifewiththismom.