Heart and Mind

Solomon, my son, worship God and obey him with all your heart and mind, just as I have done. He knows all your thoughts and your reasons for doing things, and so if you turn to him, he will hear your prayers. But if you ignore him, he will reject you forever.

1 Chronicles 28:9 (CEV)

Imagine you are about to become the president. Your dad, who was president before you, is giving you advice. What do you want to know? How to protect the country? Help the homeless? Be popular?

Today’s Bible reading tells the story of King David, who knew he was about to die. He called together all the leaders and told them his son Solomon would be the new king. Then he said to his son, “Solomon, worship God and obey him with all your heart and mind.”

The most important thing David wanted to make sure Solomon understood was to put God first, to love him and obey him. David knew that if Solomon did that, he would be the kind of leader God wanted him to be for God’s people.

How about you? Do you make it a priority to worship and obey God? Too often, we all get busy running our own lives, thinking everything else is more important. We think we have to study for school more than read our Bible; we want to sleep in rather than go to church; or we scroll through social media instead of praying.

David’s instructions to Solomon are for us, too: with all your heart and mind, put God first. What he means is that worship is more than just a checklist of tasks, but rather it’s a life of complete devotion to God.

SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING

Jot down any words that pop out to you from today’s verse. As you do, think about ways you can worship God!

PRAY

God, forgive me for making other things more important than you. Please help me worship you with all my heart and mind.

KEEP IT GOING

Related passages: These additional verses will help you expand Scriptural knowledge and place on the armor of God’s Word to tackle each day. Please read...

Joshua 24:20

Psalm 40:16

Matthew 22:36-37

John 4:23-24