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Every day we read or hear about battles, conflicts, and wars being fought in various parts of the world. As the darkness in the world deepens, there are rumors of wars added to the current ones we may know about. We likely do not hear about some wars fought in places we have never heard about in the 24-hour news cycle. 

Books and movies remind us of the horrors of wars that have plagued mankind since the beginning. We say we long for peace but war dominates the human timeline.

But there is a war we talk about less often that poses the toughest battle and when first lost, sets the stage for all the others.

“One of the things we forget is that the major big-deal war in our lives is not a war with things outside us; it’s the war that still rages inside us. In every situation, location, and relationship in our lives, there is a war for control of our hearts. This means that what rules our hearts shapes our words and actions. So the big war is not any of the smaller ones we have with other people, debt, material possessions, sex, and so on. No, the war is more foundational than all of these.” 

Paul David Tripp

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Our hearts were created to be connected, bound, to that of God’s but his enemy, Lucifer, wanted that connection and in the Garden of Eden he set the trap to try to destroy that connection with God. He appealed to the hearts of Adam and Eve with cunning and purpose using subtle doubts to gain the ground of their hearts. They lost the battle and with it, humanity has been in the toughest battle for our own hearts every day. That forbidden tree left within us the seeds for destruction of our hearts by battling our desires in any and every area of our life. 

Our days are filled with so many tasks, responsibilities, and wear-and-tear, that we seldom recognize the daily battle for our hearts (even as believers). We are drawn to anything we think will bring us life in the busy dailyness of living. We’re distracted by one shiny thing after another and determine we will look for only a minute or two and in that choice, we give the ground of our hearts to the enemy’s playground.

“Every day you attach the hopes and dreams of your heart, your satisfaction, and your joy to something. Every day you look to something to give you life. Every day you give yourself to something in the hope it will give you peace and joy. Every day you attach your identity to something, and there are only two places to look. You are either looking for life in creation and you are on your way to crushing disappointment, or you are looking to the Creator and are on your way to lasting peace of heart.” 

Paul David Tripp

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Modern life offers an endless array of ways to lead our hearts astray. And they are not just the most talked about ones of drugs, sexual temptations of every kind, and assaults on other humans in various ways from their values and beliefs to their physical bodies and possessions. Those are obvious and clearly reveal the enemy’s ploy and the heart’s corrupt desires.

Others are less obvious to us because they seem so small and innocuous. We don’t think they will do much harm or that anyone will notice. So on a bad day or a long day at work, we desire to comfort ourselves or reward ourselves with something and our first thought is not usually to go to God with that need to be soothed and encouraged. Instead, we may go shopping at that favorite little boutique we like so much, drive by our favorite ice cream shop and check out the favorite flavor we can rarely resist, or drive through our special coffee shop and pick up a latte that hits the spot in the moment.

None of these are what might be called deadly sins but reveal where we look first. I am guilty as well. This week I was near my favorite Italian coffee shop and their seasonal hazelnut pistachio latte seemed to be calling my name to soothe my disappointment at not checking off as many things as I wanted to accomplish that day. I don’t believe God looked at me with angst but knew I didn’t first take those feelings to him to hear his thoughts on the matter and receive encouragement that would be more nourishing and long-lasting than the latte.

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Day by day we will have the same battleground – our heart. The more often we have small missteps and look in places other than God, the duller our hearts will become to what will truly satisfy us like nothing else. Most of us know our indulgences in other places never can bring us what we desire or need except in that one moment that is then gone in a flash. Living for ourselves will never hit the place where we gain peace and joy.

^“6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” 

Philippians 4:6-7 (MSG)

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