Baseball players are notoriously superstitious. Players on a good run will not shave, change socks, routine, pre-game meals . . . you name it. Players on a bad run will change any and everything about their game in hopes that “luck” will come their way.

Lest we think too harshly of superstitious athletes and too highly of ourselves, we might be wise to consider if the faintest hint of superstition drives our Christian service. Think of it this way: why do you do the good things you do? Because you hope the principle of karma is true and that good things will come your way? Because you think as long as you are doing good things that God will do good things to you, but if you stop doing good things so will He? Where in that is GRACE?

John Piper, writing about heaven, posed this question (my paraphrase): if you could have all that heaven offers – reunion with loved ones, perfect healing, paradise, no more sin, but NO JESUS . . . would you still want to go? Seriously, if heaven were still all it is advertised to be, save the presence of Jesus, would you still long for it? The answer to that question diagnoses the condition of our hearts.

• When Jesus is the longing of our heart, nowhere without Him could be heaven.
• When Jesus is the longing of our heart, no activity without Him could be satisfactory.
• When Jesus is the longing of our heart, no day without Him could be sunny.
• When Jesus is the longing of our heart, no job without Him could be rewarding.
• When Jesus is the longing of our heart, no life without Him could be fulfilling.

Written by a King who had it all . . . but was on the lam from his own son:

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land
where there is no water – Psalm 63:1

May HE be our heart’s desire.