Zip up those jeans

God has already promised to prosper us, give us hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). OK the promise is there, now its time to get started. I heard Joyce Meyer say yesterday that having good and wonderful intentions is not the same as obedience. Yikes! King David told his son Solomon when he became the new king to "devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God (I Chron. 22:19). The word devote in Hebrew is "nathan". It means to give, place, add, set forth, to set something in place and to fasten it. Interesting word picture, isn't it? We use fasteners every day. Buttons hold our shirts together, zippers keep us warm in our jackets, shoe laces keep our tennies tied, velcro keeps our Bible covers secure, bungie cords hold our cargo safely in our pick-up trucks and safety pins hold those cloth diapers on our babies. So when we devote ourselves to seeking God with our heart and soul, we are to fasten ourselves to that persuit as if we had zipped ourselves into a pair of tight fitting jeans! An additional note here: fastening is an action word. All the planning to get yourself into those jeans (or to seek God's heart) will get you nowhere. You have to actually zip them up to be obedient!