Introduction
Last time we talked about how God wants us to seek Him with our whole
heart. But, in order to do that, our heart must be pure. A divided
heart is filled with conflicting desires, which paralyze us into
inaction. Therefore, we must learn to seek God with our whole heart.
“All
Your Heart”
Actually,
the phrase “all your heart” occurs repeatedly throughout the
Bible. A study of these passages
is quite enlightening. Among the most common things that the Bible
instructs us to do with all our heart is to: seek God
(Dt 4:29, Jer 29:13), love God
(Dt 6:5, 13:3, 30:6, Mt 22:37, Mk 12:30-33, Lk 10:27), serve
God (Dt 10:12, 11:13,Josh 22:5, 1 Sam 7:3, 12:20, 12:24, Col 3:23-24), observe
God's commands / obey Him
(Dt 26:16, 30:2, 30:10), and turn/return to God
(Dt 30:2, 30:10, 1 Sam 7:3, Joel 2:12). We are also instructed to
hold fast to Him
(Josh 22:5), trust Him
(Pr 3:5), and lay hold of His words
(Pr 4:4). Most of these passages deal with our action towards God,
suggesting that God is the only One who should have the affections of
our entire heart. Not only that, but it shows us that our hearts
should be set upon God rather than on what He can give us or do for
us. We
should, however, trust in the goodness of God and be thankful for
what He has already done. And the remaining Scriptures deal with
these subjects—reflecting on the wonderful things God has done for
us. For example, Joshua 23:14 says, “Now
I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all
your heart and soul that
not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has
failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”
And Zephaniah 3:14-17 says,
Sing,
O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be
glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O
Daughter of Jerusalem!
The
Lord has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The
Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On
that day they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The
Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He
will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he
will rejoice over you with singing.”
“Do
everything in love”
But let's take a step back for a moment and consider this question:
What is the primary function of the “heart”? Is it not to
love? And if the primary function of the heart is to love,
then to do something with our whole heart should certainly not
exclude love! We should seek God because we love Him... not because
we want something from Him... not because we want to look pious or
holy or whatever... not because we want to impress others... And
everything we do in life should be motivated by our love for God. I
believe that is what it means to do something with “all
your heart”... Do everything for God (1 Cor 10:31, Col 3:17,23).
“Do everything in love” (1 Cor 16:14).
Prayer:
Lord, help me to love You more and to do only that which can be done
out of love for You. Amen!
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