Towards An Engaged Heart

"Who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?" declares the Lord. Jeremiah 30:21b NIV
The King James says "who will engage his heart to approach me.

I was struck by this verse and have been thinking on it and letting God speak to me through. Do devote myself or engage my heart is active and I tend to be passive. I read a lot and listen to what God is saying to me, but I am also quite busy with life and often just let life happen. I am humbled by this thought. When I make a quilt I spend time planning it, sometimes a great deal of time. Even my scrap quilts take planning to some degree. Yet, how much time to I spend planning my time with the Lord?

A book I am reading, Seeking the Face of God by Gary L Thomas, talks about our growth goals. I am not a goal oriented person, as is evident if you know me well. This as revealed to me that I need to have goals for my spiritual growth if I want it to happen.

He makes a statement "If we lack any concept of setting goals and continuing to grow, we'll have no idea whether we are stuck at the beginning, complacent at the middle, or making progress toward the end." I listen to the Lord and learn from His word and am making progress toward the end, but I admit I am doing it a bit aimlessly and desire to be more intentional about it.

I want to be careful in this though and not to be focused on fulfilling a goal, but rather engaged in the process and letting god work in it.
Thomas talks about Christian spirituality should be focused on what we receive more than what we achieve. Our world is big on achievements, but that is not how it should be in God's economy.

"If we insist on being an achiever, seeking God so that others might admire our faith, our commitment, or our dedication, we become God's competitor, trying to steal some of His glory."

I would never compete with God!
And yet, how often am I concerned with what others think of me, or whether they notice and appreciate me.