“Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Ja5.8 ESV
A good friend of mine never does anything half way. When He builds something, He builds it to last. When He fixes something, you might say he “sets it in stone,” and I mean literally. When he wished to secure his bass boat, from thievery, He not only locked the front of the trailer, he also attached one end of a half-inch chain to the back of the trailer and sunk the other end deep into a hole in the ground where he poured fresh concrete.
The word in this verse, which encourages us to “establish” our heart, conveys the same kind of resolute energy. We are being told to set our heart steadfast on all that the coming of Christ will accomplish and to direct our energies completely and unchangeably on the coming Kingdom. If we would keep thieves from stealing what is precious to our heart, then we had best set our heart on the permanent and not on the perishing.
We do this of course, every time we make some small decision, which emphasizes the eternal over the temporal. And, as concrete grows stronger the longer it sets, so our hearts will be established and ready for the coming of the Lord. We must burn the bridges to our former lusts and fix our eyes on the eastern sky. 1/24/2008 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
