Give Me a Heart Like Jonathan

What kind of heart do you want to carry?

Throughout the Bible, many of us have prayed some version of the same prayer: “God, give me a heart like David.” And no doubt, the heart of David is beautiful. He was a man after God’s own heart.

But David’s is not the only beautiful heart in the story.

For me, one of the most beautiful hearts in all of Scripture is not merely the heart of the man who sat on the throne and eventually laid his crown before the King. It is the heart of the man who willingly gave up his throne so another man could sit on it.

David could not become David without Jonathan.

Think about it for a moment. Jonathan was the heir to the throne. By every natural expectation, the kingdom belonged to him. Then suddenly, a shepherd boy from Bethlehem appears carrying an anointing that threatens everything Jonathan could have considered his.

Yet Jonathan did something extraordinary.

He did not merely make room for David. He surrendered to what God was doing through David.

Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his armor, sword, bow, and belt. He strengthened David. He protected David. He defended David when his own father wanted him dead. Eventually Jonathan looked David in the eyes and said, “You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you.” (1 Samuel 23:17)

That is one of the most beautiful statements in Scripture.

Jonathan was not a side character in David’s story. His surrender was part of what made David’s story possible.

Jesus would later say that whoever wants to become great must become a servant, and whoever wants to be first must become a slave of all. Long before Jesus spoke those words, Jonathan gave us a picture of what they look like.

There is a war within the human heart that keeps us from becoming servants of another person’s destiny.

Jonathan could have focused on his own destiny and therefore fought against David’s. Instead, part of Jonathan’s destiny became serving David’s. His life was not consumed with making his own name famous, so he was free to recognize, protect, and strengthen the anointing God had placed upon someone else.

But there is another heart in Scripture that responded very differently.

Cain saw the favor upon Abel and could not celebrate it. Rather than becoming his brother’s keeper, jealousy turned his brother into his competitor. Favor on someone else exposed something broken within him.

Jonathan saw anointing and served it. Cain saw favor and attacked it.

The tension between the heart of Cain and the heart of Jonathan exists, to some degree, within all of us.

To be transparent, I can resonate deeply with the heart of Cain. I know what it is like to feel jealousy toward a brother who is walking righteously and experiencing the generous abundance and favor of God. I know what it is like for another person’s blessing to expose something ugly within my own heart.

That is why my cry is so often, “God, give me a heart like Jonathan.”

I want every trace of Cain rooted out of me. I do not want to compete with my brothers. I want to serve them. I do not want to be threatened by the anointing heaven has deposited in my friends. I want to recognize it, celebrate it, protect it, and strengthen it. I want to become the kind of friend who can see the favor of God resting heavily upon another person and genuinely ask, “How can I help you become everything God has called you to become?”

The truth is, I am no better than Cain. Left to myself, jealousy can grow in the soil of my heart too.

I need God’s grace to become like Jonathan.

Maybe that is where becoming a Jonathan actually begins. Not by pretending there is no Cain within us, but by bringing our jealousy, comparison, insecurity, and selfish ambition into the light and allowing the Spirit of God to put them to death.

Can I celebrate what God is doing through someone else when I wanted Him to do it through me? Can I strengthen someone whose calling may become more visible than mine? Can I protect the anointing on another person when serving their destiny costs me something? Can I genuinely rejoice when someone else receives the opportunity, recognition, influence, or favor I secretly wanted?

To steward a heart like Jonathan, we must first recognize the places where our hearts still look like Cain.

I have discovered something in my own life: I am most free when the person I think about least is me.

We were never created to spend our lives protecting our position, comparing our influence, measuring our recognition, or building our own name. We were created to behold the Anointed One and then recognize and honor His anointing wherever He chooses to place it.

Maybe one of the greatest signs of maturity is not merely carrying an anointing yourself, but becoming secure enough to serve the anointing upon someone else.

And lately, there is another prayer growing in my heart:

God, would You give me an anointing to serve other people’s anointing?

What if this began to become the cry of every human heart on the earth? What if we received supernatural grace from heaven not simply to live out our own destiny, but grace to wash the feet of other people’s destiny?

What if I became as passionate about seeing the calling upon my brother fulfilled as I am about seeing my own fulfilled?

Imagine a generation where we stopped competing over who gets the throne and started washing the feet of those God has called to sit upon it. Where another person’s promotion became an opportunity for celebration rather than comparison. Where another person’s anointing awakened service rather than insecurity.

Maybe we need an anointing to serve the anointing.

Some people are asking God for a throne when He is offering them something far more beautiful: the heart of Jonathan.

A heart that does not need to be first. A heart that is not threatened by another person’s favor. A heart that can recognize what God is doing in another and ask, “How can I strengthen it?” A heart that would rather see the Kingdom advance through someone else than build its own name.

Jesus is the Anointed One in heaven, and His anointing is flowing through ordinary people all around us on earth. When my attention becomes consumed with Him and my heart becomes committed to serving what He is doing in others, something beautiful happens.

The person I think about least becomes me.

And maybe that is where freedom begins.

Father, remove Cain from my heart and form Jonathan within me. Give me grace not only to fulfill my own destiny, but to wash the feet of the destiny You have placed upon others. Anoint me to serve the anointing upon my brothers. Give me a heart like Jonathan.