NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD
HEART HEALTH
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. —Deut. 6:5-9
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Redemption is a love affair. It begins with the incomprehensible love of God for man (Jn. 3:16). It progresses through the love of man for God. Our fundamental problem is heart trouble—”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9) Redemption offers the sinner a spiritual heart transplant. In a remarkable passage which, incidentally, defines repentance, God pleaded with wayward Israel through the prophet Ezekiel,
“Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live [Ezek. 18:30b-32].”
Subsequently He promises the penitent a new heart: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them [Ezek. 36:26].”
This precisely prefigures our redemptive experience in Christ. The repentant sinner is afforded a new birth through which he becomes a new creation, embracing a new heart, all imparted through the operation of the Holy Spirit. This, as New Testament believers, we pretty well understand and “take it by faith.” What we seem not to understand is the importance of maintaining “heart health” for the full implementation of the new life we have in Christ. The key is in one of the most demanding words in scripture; the little three letter word “ALL.”
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God— with ALL thine heart
with ALL thy soul
with ALL thy might.
The cause of failure in our spiritual life is half-heartedness. Our love is divided between God and self. God’s remedy is to immerse the heart in His word. The link between verse five and verse six is not incidental; it is vital. If we are to love Him with our whole heart, it will involve, and be manifested by obedience to His word. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” And we cannot keep commandments we do not know. The heart in its devotion and direction must be reinforced from within by the knowledge of and submission to the Word of God. And it is important to remember that the written word is but a portrait of the Living Word. As we become familiar with the written word we become acquainted with Him; and there is no other way.
It is not the mere reading of the word nor memorizing scripture that is in view here, though both are invaluable. It is the heart embrace of its truths, so that its import is evident in all of life. It is to be the textbook out of which we teach our children. It is to be the subject of our conversation, both at home and abroad. It is to be our meditation “evening and morning.” It is to govern the work of our hands, the sight of our eyes and all of our coming and going. The divine intention is that all of the believer’s life should be in every respect the expression of His principles “twenty four seven,” in what we endorse, what we embrace and what we avoid.
The average “Christian” home, I dare say, and in fact the average Christian church would be utterly transformed if we began to take these two principles seriously and prayerfully pursued them with diligence: whole-hearted love for God and His word. How is your heart?
What shall I give Thee, Master? Thou hast given all for me!
Not just a part, or half of my heart, I must give all to Thee!
—"Pastor" Frasier
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8/18/12
These "Nuggets," including past issues, are now available online at
http://wmf14227.blogspot.com/ - or - http://pastorfrasier.blogspot.com/ prior to 4/1/12
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