Direct My Heart

By Frank Williams

November 24, 2025

2 Thessalonians 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Come, thou Fount of every blessing;

            tune my heart to sing thy grace;

            streams of mercy, never ceasing,

            call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

            sung by flaming tongues above;

            praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

            mount of God’s unchanging love!

Too often we may find our hearts more in tune with the last stanza of Come, Thou Fount. Some of those words are, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. We surely need the Lord to guide and direct our hearts into His love—and to keep them there. 

This is Paul’s first concern. He knows too well that our love, if left undirected by the Lord, is apt to go astray after other things. When our hearts are guided into the Lord’s love, the world’s attractions do not hold an appeal to our affections.

Paul’s second concern is that our hearts are directed into patiently waiting for Jesus to return. Patient waiting keeps us steady in our faith. It has a hopeful and purifying influence in our lives. It will affect the decisions and directions that we take day by day. In a word, consciously and purposefully waiting patiently for the Lord to return will sanctify us.

• 1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Love and patience. These two qualities are essential for us to have spiritual stability and strength. May the Lord so direct our hearts.

Reflection—Love cannot be lacking patience, nor patience love.