I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
-Jeremiah 24:7

“Your heart is upside down”

Those five words were said to me this past Sunday.

It was five minutes before our outdoor worship was to begin, and my first thought was, “How can he tell?“

Then I realized he was talking about my heart pin. I wear it above my name tag each week, just to let visitors know I’m an ally.

Sure enough, it was flipped upside down. It tends to do that. I joked and mentioned that a comment like that might work its way into one of my devotions.

So here it is!

It really is a profound statement–it reminds me of “turn that frown upside down”, but deeper.

Having your heart upside down could mean a lot of things. You’re not happy? You aren’t feeling the love? You’re too distracted?

That was the one I was dealing with. I was not thinking about opening my heart to God in worship. I was thinking about the announcements, the new service we’re starting, the state of the world (always) and maybe a little about where Jan and I would go for lunch.

My heart was not in the right place.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks for God in this verse. It’s a reminder to those exiles in Babylon that God is at work. God will restore the nation, restore the land, but most importantly, restore the nation’s heart.

God literally says, I will care about your heart, so that your heart can care about me.

Jeremiah reminds us that distraction isn’t new—God’s people have always needed some divine intervention to stay focused on faith. That’s what we call prevenient grace: God at work in our lives when we don’t even realize it.

Was God tossing me some grace through Brett’s offhand comment?

I don’t know, but it certainly reframed the rest of my morning. My upside-down pin revealed that my heart needed to be turned right-side up. When I made that turn, I was fully able to engage in worship.

Is your heart in the right place today? Remember that God knows when you’re a little upside down…

and loves you

no matter your orientation.

Have a great week,

Mitch