I was recently reading the end of the gospel of Mark. Several verses in chapter fourteen caught my attention. It was telling the story about the last Passover Jesus celebrated with His disciples. He sent a couple of His disciples into the city to find a room for them to use to celebrate the Passover. He didn’t just send them to search for a room though; He already knew where to send them. He told them to search for a specific man who would already have the room prepared for them.
I read the story in several different versions of the Bible. They all described the room as prepared. Some described it as totally prepared; some described it as swept clean and waiting. However they chose to describe it, they all made a point of saying it was ready for Jesus. Jesus was looking for a room that was prepared for Him, so that He could enter the room and celebrate. He had a great purpose to fulfill that night in that room, and it needed to be prepared for His use.
The lesson that these verses were teaching me was that our hearts need to be prepared to be used by Jesus. Just like the room was prepared for Jesus’ use, our hearts need to be ready. They need to be swept clean of anything that is not pleasing to God. We need to ask God as David did in Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts.” The most important way to prepare our hearts is by asking God to show us anything in them that do not belong there.
Next, we need to make sure our hearts stay clean and ready for Jesus’ use by guarding our thoughts very carefully. Our thoughts, if not guarded, become our actions, therefore they must be guarded. The second part of 2 Corinthians 10:5 admonishes us to “take every thought captive into the obedience of Christ”. Our thoughts need to pass the Philippians 4:8 test. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (NLT).
A lot of people underestimate the power your thoughts have over your life. The direction of your thoughts is the direction your life will go. Our thoughts determine the type of life we will lead. If our thoughts are not honoring God, then we are not honoring God. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Jesus warned His disciples that what comes out of the heart defiles a man (Matt. 15:18). As you see, the Scriptures are pretty clear when it comes to the condition of our hearts.
I don’t know about you, but I want my heart to be prepared for use by Jesus. I want Jesus to feel welcome in my heart. I love the thought of Jesus celebrating in my heart. What an amazing thought. I want to do my best every day to keep a pure and prepared heart so that Jesus feels right at home in my heart. I also want to keep my heart prepared so that it is ready for Jesus to use however He sees fit. After all, it’s all about Him and I want to be used for His purposes and for His glory. – Katrina Douglas
