What Will Have My Heart Today?
Devotionals on Holiness
Pastor Calvin Cook | October 12, 2026
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” — Romans 12:21 (KJV)
Last Evening as I was preparing for the upcoming sermons in October on holiness, I found myself pausing at this particular verse in Romans.
When we allow God’s Word to speak to us, it speaks in a mighty and powerful way. Sometimes a single verse brings us to a stop and helps us see what is happening within our own hearts.
I have noticed this as I write and prepare these devotionals. Certain Scriptures come to mind on certain days, meeting me right where I am. They speak into the situations I am facing and prepare me for the day ahead.
This morning, Romans 12:21 keeps speaking to my heart.
Today’s schedule is larger than I would like it to be. There are more things to do than I thought I would need to do, and before the day has even begun, I can feel my thoughts moving from one responsibility to another. I am already considering how to fit everything in.
Then God’s Word interrupts me: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
A crowded schedule is not itself evil, unless it consumes it and keeps us from experiencing God’s will. I also recognize how easily busyness and pressure can open the door to impatience, resentment, anxious thoughts, and unkind words. I can become so consumed with getting everything accomplished that I fail to notice what is happening to the person doing it. This is also a place I ask –“Will this matter in eternity.”
Will I accomplish my tasks today while neglecting the condition of my heart?
I need to take time to pause, devote myself to prayer, and remain attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit. In the middle of everything demanding my attention, am I allowing God to cultivate patience, endurance, and longsuffering within me?
If I am seeking to live rightly before God, growing in holiness, I must pay attention to what I allow to govern my thoughts and shape my responses. The troubles of the world are real. Responsibilities matter. Difficult situations need attention. Yet I need to bring all of these before God and trust His guidance and deliverance.
Romans 12 speaks of blessing those who persecute us, refusing revenge, and offering kindness even to an enemy. This verse asks something deeply personal of me: when something hurts, frustrates, or unsettles me, will I allow it to reproduce itself in my response?
Someone’s harshness does not have to become my harshness. Someone’s anger does not have to become my anger. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I can answer with goodness.
That is where holiness becomes very real.
It becomes real when I pause before speaking. When I give someone my attention, even with a full schedule. When I refuse to keep rehearsing my response to an offense. When I do the good God has placed before me, even though my emotions are pulling me in another direction.
As I center my life in God’s will, I begin to recognize that some things consuming my thoughts do not deserve the space I have given them. Some concerns require faithful action. Others need to be surrendered. I need God’s wisdom to know the difference.
Perhaps you are beginning your day with that same heaviness. Before you move into everything waiting for you, pause and ask:
What has been occupying my thoughts? What kind of response is it producing in me? What good is God asking me to do today? Does this really matter?
I cannot control every situation I will encounter. But I can place my heart before God and ask Him to make me faithful within it.
Prayer:
Lord, You know everything waiting for me today. You also know what is happening within me. Cleanse my heart of resentment, quiet my anxious thoughts, and guide my choices. By Your Holy Spirit, help me overcome evil with good. Let Your holiness become visible in my words, my decisions, and the way I treat others. Keep my heart centered in Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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