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How is your heart? It’s a question many wives might be asking husbands, or girl-friends asking their boy-friends this time of the year. Where is your commitment to me? Do you truly love me? Especially at Valentine’s Day spouses want to know how deep the love of their spouse runs. Is there, in fact, true love present? A genuine relationship of love cannot be founded merely on superficial acts of kindness, however right and good they are in themselves. True love is borne out of the commitment of the heart – how, then, is your heart? It’s really quite the same for a Christian. So far in this series of articles we’ve been talking about how to act, how to live before God. The Bible teaches us how to behave as Christians, but there’s much more to it than life-style. That’s a big part of it, to be sure, but life-style must be borne out of the commitment of the heart. In our relationship with God, we must live for God out of love for Him. Our relationship with the LORD is one of love. Although we serve Him and obey Him, it is never service of a cruel, cold, calculating task-master. Rather, it is always thankful service to our most gracious Master and Saviour. Right from the earliest times God has shown unfailing love for His people, calling His chosen nation the “apple of His eye.”1 He protected, shielded, and defended His nation, carrying them as upon “eagles’ wings” out of the reach of their enemies.2 The LORD entered into a binding relationship with Israel which the Bible calls His “covenant of love.”3 Even the law, the 10 Commandments which show us how to live with Him, is an expression of His love toward His people.4 And that love is nowhere made more plain or shown to be so deep as in the sending of the Son of God: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.5 God has consistently acted towards us in love, even while we hated Him: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.6 To make us sinners right with Him, God Himself paid our penalty in the death of His only begotten Son. As the Lord Jesus Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”7 And in response, God demands of us nothing less than our love, our heart. Just like a husband who dearly loves His wife expects to be loved dearly in return, so the LORD looks to us to receive our love. The Bible even likens the Lord God as groom to the church as His bride.8 Moses already called God’s people to love Him: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.”9 Notice how the commandments are to be upon our hearts - not merely external action. Our God has always demanded much more than formal submission, much more than outward obedience to the law. He’s always demanded our hearts first, out of which we gladly and sincerely obey His law. So, how is your heart? Do you truly have a heart for God? Obeying God’s law of itself won’t get you to heaven. A list of good works as long as your arm, however right and important they are, won’t earn salvation. What you need to do is this: respond to God’s love in Jesus Christ by embracing Him in faith. Give your love, your heart, your trust to the one true God and then you’ll want to show your love in a life of good works. Then obedience to His law won’t be a slavish, burdensome thing: it will become your heart’s desire as you live for your God out of love for Him. Biblical quotations
on this page are from: 1) Deuteronomy 32:10; 2) Exodus 19:4-6; 3) Deuteronomy
7:9; 4) Psalm 119, all of it; see esp. v.165.; 5) John 3:16; 6) Romans
5:8; 7) John 15:13; 8) Jeremiah 2:2; Ephesians 5:22-33; 9) Deuteronomy
6:5-6; This is echoed by Christ in Matthew 22:37 Looking for more? Has God planted a hunger in your heart to seek Him?
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about the faith, encouragement and support then please consider joining
us for our weekly Coffee
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