My heart

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:15-16
A statement I came across in my devotional reading today really hit home.
"Sighing over your ignorance of divine things will never make you wise unto salvation. There are tens of thousand sluggish tears and sighs toward heaven that will never win one smile of approval from Jesus. Do not think that a Chrisitan experience will come to you of itself. When you make up your mind to do something on which your heart is set, you do not give up for difficulties, but try again and again." ~ Ellen G.W.
After reading the above verse late last night, and then reading these words in the devotional, I knew God was speaking directly to me.
I've found myself reaching for wordly things... Not bad things necessarily, just things that aren't from God, not in His plan for my life. It's so subtle, and so easy to ignore. But the more I reach for things of this world, the harder it is to set my heart on God.
I feel like I'm only taking away from the impact of the two quotations, because they really do sum up the two opposing ambitions. Either our heart is set on things of this world, or set on God.
All I can do is ask God for mercy. Because when it comes down to it, any lack of christian growth in my life is simply due to my heart not being set on God. I'm so grateful that God is showing me this, nudging me, even after so many pointless journeys my heart has taken away from him.