INTRODUCTION
The prophet Samuel spoke glowingly to the young man Saul as he
anointed him king over Israel and as he gave him instructions
pertinent to the time immediately ahead:
1Sa 10:6-8 "Then the Spirit of the LORD will come
upon you, and you will prophesy with them [the prophets] and be
turned into another man. 7 And let it be, when these signs
come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with
you. 8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will
come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices
of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to
you and show you what you should do."
The narrative then continues with a description of a miraculous
transformation in Saul's nature:
1Sa 10:9-11 So it was, when he had turned his back to
go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart [NIV: "God
changed Saul's heart"]; and all those signs came to pass
that day. 10 When they came there to the hill, there was a group
of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him,
and he prophesied among them. 11 And it happened, when all who
knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets,
that the people said to one another, "What is this ["What
is this remarkable change?"] that has come upon the son of
Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
So we have here a conversion of the heart through the impact
of the Spirit of God. Yet we know that Saul was eventually rejected
by God. What happened, we wonder, to the heart of this man whose
conversion one scholar describes as "the first…recorded
(that is, in some detail) in sacred Scripture"?
THE HEART IN THE SCRIPTURES
In the Scriptures, the heart is often used to depict physical
life, or the total individual. For instance, in Ge 18:5, Abraham
offers to feed the angelic visitors before him in order to refresh
their hearts [Heb: "leb"]; similarly, in the New
Testament, the apostle Paul, in Acts 14:17, proclaims God as filling
the hearts [Gk: "kardia"] of men with food and gladness.
The symbolism of the heart in the Bible extends in like manner
to depict the individual's mental activities, the functions
of the will, as well as his emotional state:
Pr 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
2Co 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart
[kardia; in other words, as he has set his will to do], not grudgingly
or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
David spoke of gladness of the heart (Ps 4:7), Solomon of anxiety
of the heart (Pr 12:25), Christ of sorrow of heart (Jn 16:6) and
James of envy in the heart (Jas 3:14). And since the Old Testament
Hebrew had no word for "conscience", the word "heart"
[Heb: "leb" or "lebab"] is often used also
to portray the functions of the conscience, by means of which
an individual stands accused or excused before God (1Sa 24:5;
2Sa 24:10; Job 27:6).
And of course, the Bible often depicts the errant or depraved
heart as the source of evil and sin. God tells us that "the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who
can know it?" (Jer 17:9), and the heart, when defiled, produces
the evil fruit of murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft,
false testimony, slander and the like, as Christ explained in
Mt 15:19. Paul warns of the hard, impenitent heart against which
the wrath of God is reserved (Ro 2:5), and Peter describes the
heart of Ananias as being literally filled by Satan to
lie against the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).
We are told that where our treasure is, there our heart will be
also (Mt 6:21). God wants His people to worship him in spirit
and in truth (Jn 4:23), and it is the pure in heart alone who
shall see God, so Christ assures us (Mt 5:8).
So the heart is used in the Scriptures to also depict one's spiritual
life. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is described as having been placed
into the very heart of a Christian:
2Co 1:22 (NIV) [God] set his seal of ownership on us, and
put his Spirit in our hearts [kardia] as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.
Let us therefore focus on what the Scriptures teach us about worshipping
God with the heart—in truth—and not merely by external
ceremony. If we accept that the heart of man is deceitful, we
should understand that we too could be misled into believing that
we are indeed serving God and one another with all our heart,
when we may be greatly wanting! I would like to focus on a few
areas of our Christian life—obedience to God, faith, repentance,
forgiveness and godly love—but we'll begin by considering the
nature of our spiritual service to God.
GODLY WORSHIP
Let us notice how we are instructed to approach God:
Heb 10:22 (NIV) let us draw near to God with a sincere
[or "true"] heart [kardia] in full assurance
of faith.
In other words, we are to come before God with sincerity in the
innermost being, with a heart that is true, loyal and undivided
in its allegiance to God.
We should also note something else about the heart that worships
God in this manner:
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water.
As the sprinkled blood cleansed the tabernacle and the people,
and ratified the Old Covenant (Ex 24:4-8; Heb 9:18-22), the heart—our
conscience before God—is made clean because of our consciousness
of the reality that we have been redeemed and that our sins have
been removed through our acceptance of the blood sacrifice of
the Son of God (1Pe 1:2). And like the levitical priests of old,
washed by water before coming into the presence of God (Ex 29:4;
30:19-21; 40:30), this inner cleansing of the heart is
similarly typified by the baptism of the body.
This clean heart of God's spiritual priesthood is characterized
also by a new, a renewed heart, as was prophesied by Ezekiel:
Eze 36:25-27 "Then I will sprinkle [there is a sprinkling,
a cleansing] clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will
cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within
you; I will take the heart of stone [a heart that resists God]
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [a responsive,
teachable heart]. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause
you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and
do them."
Ezekiel tells us yet more about this clean, renewed heart of the
New Covenant Christian:
Eze 11:19-20 "Then I will give them one [NIV: "an
undivided"] heart, and I will put a new spirit within
them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them
a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep
My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will
be their God."
An undivided heart is a single-minded heart. Are our hearts still
divided in terms of our service to God? How can we ensure that
they are undivided? The writer of the book of Hebrews continues
the imagery:
Heb 10:16 "This is the covenant [the covenant that
ensures this new, undivided heart] that I will make with them
after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their
hearts, and in their minds I will write them."
(Heb 8:10; Jer 31:33)
So the law of God is to be in our hearts—in our minds! What is
in our hearts and minds will govern what we do and how we live,
will it not? Words inscribed in stone, as durable as they may
be, or written on the pages of a book, do not guarantee faithful
adherence to the cause they proclaim, do they?
This was nothing new; God had intended this all along:
Dt 6:6 "And these words which I command you today
shall be in your heart."
Dt 11:18 "Therefore you shall lay up these words
of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind [figuratively]
them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between
your eyes."
Is the law of God truly written—internalized—upon our hearts,
in our minds, or do we still only see it before us externally
on tablets of stone, as the ancient Israelites saw the laws and
statutes God set before them (Dt 4:8; 11:32)? Or does this Royal
Law only ever remain in the distant pages of Scripture, to be
recalled only briefly when we happen to access them?
Is our obedience to the law of God the compulsion of the
law of the Old Covenant or the willing consent of the mind
of the New Covenant? Is there obedience to God from the heart?
Let's reflect on this a little more.
OBEDIENCE TO GOD
The apostle Paul expressed his gratitude to God for the Church
in Rome in the following manner:
Ro 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves
of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart [NIV: "you wholeheartedly
obeyed"] that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
This describes a submission that is willing, grateful, appreciative
of the providence of God—as opposed to a forced, legalistic obedience.
How rare such an attitude of willing obedience is! Or do we perhaps
feel that the multitudes of ancient Israel who responded to Moses
in unison with the words "All that the LORD has spoken we
will do" (Ex 19:8) had such a heart? Stephen, in the book
of Acts, attests to the contrary:
Acts 7:39 "whom [referring to Moses, the representative
of God] our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their
hearts they turned back to Egypt [and very quickly, if you recall!]"
It's simple to concur with the law of God when there seems to
be no other alternative. A heart can consent to obedience for
a diversity of reasons, under a variety of situations. Consider
Paul's instructions to the Ephesians:
Eph 6:5-6 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in
sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice,
as men-pleasers [so one can obey to please men, or be obedient
in the public eye only], but as bondservants of Christ, doing
the will of God [even as a slave of men] from the heart.
(cf: Col 3:22)
And to the Church in Philippi:
Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed
[that is willingly, from the heart, under all the right circumstances],
not as in my presence only [not just for appearance's sake or
under another's tutelage], but now much more in my absence [when
there's no-one looking over your shoulder], work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.
Are we obedient to God always, under all circumstances, as completely
in private as we would like to be seen to be in public in our
assemblage together?
You know, it's relatively simple to be a part-time law-keeper,
to decide which aspects of the law of God we accept and which
parts we will ignore. Paul tells us that even unconverted Gentiles
can, by acting uprightly, be law-keepers:
Ro 2:14-15 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law,
by nature do the things in the law [for many people, it's perfectly
natural and normal to honour their parents, for instance], these,
although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their
thoughts accusing [if they're doing the wrong thing] or else excusing
them.
Yet Christians need to be even more! To will to be obedient is
not enough. The Israelites before Mount Sinai were no doubt willing
enough, having seen the power of the God who had delivered them
from bondage. However, a willing heart must still be trained to
work at this obedience:
2Co 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every
thought [thinking is the activity of the mind, the heart]
into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
It is not simply a matter of outward submission, but of inward
obedience in thought or mind, in the very centre of our being—in
the heart. And this is possible only if, through the Spirit, the
Word of God sown into a heart that is good and noble, and receptive
to the will of God:
Lk 8:15 (NIV) But the seed on good soil stands for those
with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it [it
stays in the heart, not on a tablet of stone or the pages of a
book], and by persevering [continuing to put into practice
the words that bring about godliness] produce a crop.
Why is it that we retain some things and forget others?
Lk 6:45 "A good man out of the good treasure of his
heart [the good is stored up regularly in his heart] brings forth
good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings
forth evil."
And how can we tell whether the treasure of the heart is good
or evil? Christ goes on to tell us:
"For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
What we say shows where our heart is in terms of our submission
to God. So it would behoove us, would it not, to listen even more
carefully when we detect incongruities—inconsistencies in terms
of the Word of God—in what is said to us publicly or privately,
and to ensure that we subject what we hear to the test of the
truth, would we not agree?
Mt 15:18-19 "But those things which proceed out of
the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies."
If unchecked, the heart can be so trained in evil (instead of
in godliness) that it is no longer renewable and becomes totally
unreceptive to God:
2Pe 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot
cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained
in covetous practices, and [as a result] are accursed children.
So let's be sure that our obedience to God is indeed wholehearted
and undivided—that we truly have only one Master:
Lk 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either
he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal
to [the Greek means to line up face to face with one man
and so against the other] the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon."
Our service to God is a full-time job. While it may indeed have
been possible at the time for a slave to be shared by two owners,
a servant to work for two employers, he could not be the property
of both. Our hearts cannot be shared with the world; if they are,
the world can quickly become our master and even our god. And
this will cripple our faith.
So let's look briefly at faith—belief—and the heart.
FAITH AND BELIEF
In Mk 11:23 Christ teaches His disciples, and us today, about
the perfect faith by which, in accordance with the will of God,
the believer who "does not doubt in his heart" is granted
his request. A godly, living, genuine faith is invaluable for
a Christian. How do we obtain this calibre of faith?
The admonition of the apostle Paul to the Church in Corinth also
applies equally to us today:
2Co 13:5 (NIV) Examine yourselves ["yourselves"
is emphatic: Paul is telling them "Don't examine me".
It is our faith, our standing before God—not someone else's—which
we examine!] to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless,
of course, you fail the test?
So we each need to ask, as the NEB puts this verse "Am I
living 'the life of faith'?" When put to the test, will my
fruits commend me to God? Will I be able to say, as Paul could
in verse 6, that I have not failed this test of the genuineness
of my faith?
How is Jesus Christ to be in us in this life of faith?
In Gal 2:20, Paul describes Christ as actually living in
him, so enabling him to live by the faith of the Son of God. Yet
notice how he expresses this life of Christ in him to the Ephesian
Church:
Eph 3:17 that Christ may dwell [Gk: "reside
in, house permanently,"—perhaps we can say "make His
home in"] in your hearts through faith.
Can Christ not only be present with us, amongst us, but also settle
down, relax, and feel completely at home in our individual hearts,
or would He find resistance to His presence there? Are we truly
"a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph 2:22)?
Is our faith a genuine faith, of the type for which Paul commended
Timothy?
2Ti 1:5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith
[or "the unfeigned faith"] that is in you, which dwelt
first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice [so a godly
grandmother and mother had provided a wonderful foundation for
him], and I am persuaded is in you also.
There are many counterfeit faiths, or faiths that fall short of
the approbation of God. In 1Co 2:5, Paul alludes to a faith that
rests in the wisdom of men—in plausible, persuasive words of human
wisdom—rather than in the power of God. James teaches us that
faith is imperfect without works (Jas 2:22,24,26), for a faith
without works is not a saving faith (Jas 2:14), rather a dead
one (v 26), which can never justify the individual who embraces
it (v 24). Jas 2:1 tells us that the practice of partiality, showing
favoritism to men because of their status or influence, is incompatible
with the true faith of Jesus Christ. In 1Ti 6:20-21, we are reminded
that false teaching, falsely-named knowledge, can cause people
to stray from the faith.
Sin, of course, is the greatest enemy of a genuine faith and belief:
Heb 3:12-13 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief [NRSV: "an evil unbelieving
heart"] in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort
one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Such a hardened, unbelieving heart characterized the Israelites
of old and also the Jewish leaders in Stephen's day. Notice his
rebuke of the latter:
Acts 7:51 (NIV) "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised
hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist
the Holy Spirit!"
Their 'circumcision' was meaningless, for what was imparted by
the Spirit of God did not affect the ear or the heart—what they
heard and what they believed. They resisted the Spirit (What are
the symptoms of resisting the Holy Spirit of God?). Yet ancient
Israel was admonished to "circumcise the foreskins of their
hearts" (Dt 10:16), and so must we, for the circumcised heart
opens up to God, in belief, as in obedience.
Ro 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Outward profession must be matched by inner conviction. So let
us ask ourselves: Is what we confess outwardly what we truly believe
inwardly? Do we believe with the heart—the mind, the will,
this inner conviction which is the essence of an unfeigned faith?
And do we then live by this faith, as the just are to do,
without drawing back (Heb 10:38), established, grounded and steadfast
in it (Col 1:23; 2:7)? Are our hearts purified by this genuine
faith, as is God's intent for us (Acts 15:9; 1Ti 1:5)?
Jude warns us that this apostolic faith has to be contended for
(Jude 3), Paul gives instructions to "fight the good fight
of faith" (1Ti 6:12), and Peter admonishes Christians to
be steadfast in the faith, resisting the Devil (1Pe 5:9). Yet
will we set our minds to do all these things as God would have
us unless this godly faith is firmly established in our hearts?
And if it is, then God will see to it that the genuineness of
our faith is further attested to:
1Pe 1:6-7 (NIV) In this [the hope of the Christian's inheritance]
you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have
had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come
so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes
even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Let us now briefly consider the role of the heart in godly repentance.
REPENTANCE
On that historic day of Pentecost in A.D. 31, the testimony of
the Gospel through the preaching of Peter and the power of the
Holy Spirit had convicted the hearts of thousands. Notice the
response of the multitudes:
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut [pierced
or pricked] to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Their belief in and acceptance of the proclaimed Word of God and
their realization of their guilt before God cut at their very
hearts. They felt the sting of Peter's words and were overwhelmed
by compunction. The collective cry of "What shall we do?",
from these now-convicted hearts, is illustrative of the change
of mind and attitude that is the essence of repentance. They were
asking, "What deeds should we do to prove our change of heart?"
This change of heart, of mind, produces the "fruits worthy
of repentance" that John the Baptist called for. Let us notice
His words of rebuke:
Lk 3:8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance
[as evidence of repentance; NIV: "in keeping with repentance"—
so these fruits, and this repentance, are to be on-going!],
and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham
as our father [don't even begin to allow any human reasoning to
dissuade you from repentance or delude you into thinking that
you have some special standing or privileged position before God].'
For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham
from these stones."
Where correction is given, but there is a pattern of rejection
of this correction, repentance is lacking.
Do we have works "befitting repentance", fruits from
deep within our hearts that attest to the on-going repentance
that proves the reality of our conversion?
Acts 26:20 "but [that I, Paul] declared first to those
in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of
Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn
to God, and do works befitting repentance."
Yet the heart can be cut by other than a conviction of guilt before
God, as demonstrated by the actions and reactions of those who
murdered Stephen:
Acts 7:54 When they heard these things [the witness of
Stephen against them] they were cut to the heart [but this time
by fury!], and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
Why is it that the multitudes on the day of Pentecost were convicted
in their hearts to repent when confronted with their role in the
death of the Son of God while these Jewish leaders allowed their
hearts to be filled with hate and revenge at a similar testimony
by Stephen against them?
God tells us to repent when we are rebuked and corrected:
Rev 3:19 "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Therefore be zealous [a zeal, a desire, to be washed by the Word]
and repent." (Rev 3:3).
Christ rebuked the cities in which He had performed mighty miracles,
miracles which, however, had not been instrumental in bringing
about any repentance on the part of their inhabitants (Mt 11:20).
Yet these very same miracles would have produced repentance if
they had been performed in ancient Sodom (v 23)! Why?
And why is it that the most extreme punishment from God may similarly
not evoke the required attitude of repentance?
Rev 16:11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of
their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.
(Rev 9:20)
Notice Christ's assessment of the spiritual condition of the general
populace to whom He spoke:
Mt 13:15 "for the hearts [and, remember, the
heart is used to denote the seat of the will] of this people
have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes
they have [voluntarily, willingly] closed, lest they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand
with their hearts and turn [KJV: "be converted";
NJB: "changing their ways"], so that I should heal
them.'"
So sin is a denial that one is spiritually sick! Christ here quoted
from the words of the prophet Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10), who lamented
the closed eyes and hearts of an Israel unwilling to heed the
message of the Gospel. The apostle Paul, in Acts 28:26-27, likewise
castigated the Jews to whom he witnessed in Rome for their stubbornness
and unresponsive hearts, also citing these verses in Isaiah. Spiritual
healing from God, which follows godly repentance, is the product
of a willing and understanding heart, not a dulled,
hardened, froward or rebellious one!
So what does it take for the heart to be reached by God to bring
about the repentance He in His goodness grants (Ro 2:4; 2Ti 2:25)?
The apostle Paul, in his second epistle to the Church in Corinth,
provides the answer for us:
2Co 7:9-10 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry,
but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry
in a godly manner [a sorrow over sin that leads to a change
of heart—and action—towards godliness], that you might suffer
loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the
world [a regret, even for sin, in which, however, there is no
place for repentance] produces death.
Judas Iscariot, who may well have sorrowed over the painful consequences
of his sin in betraying His Master, is an example of the sorrow
of the world. Whether as result of sin or of affliction, or of
disappointment, this worldly sorrow remains unsanctified and only
leaves human regret if God is not involved. And sometimes the
heart can so easily delude us into believing that regret is equivalent
to repentance:
Heb 12:17 For you know that afterward, when he [referring
to Esau] wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for
he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently
with tears [NIV: "He could bring about no change of mind"—in
Isaac, to be sure, but also in himself: there was regret, but
not repentance (cf Ge 27:41)], though he sought the blessing with
tears."].
Is our repentance the godly repentance from the heart or is it
still tainted by worldly sorrow?
FORGIVENESS
Christ tells us, in Lk 6:37, to forgive so that we may be forgiven.
We cannot expect our sins to be removed unless we practice this:
Mt 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do
not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses."
So how do we forgive one another? Do we pronounce forgiveness
after a brother or sister comes to us with confession and repentance,
yet the grievance supposedly forgiven and passed over is found
later to have resurfaced? How does God tell us to forgive one
another?
We find the answer at the conclusion of Christ's parable of the
unmerciful servant, whose master forgave him an immense debt,
yet he, in turn, refused to forgive a much, much smaller one:
Mt 18:35 "So My heavenly Father also will do [referring
to the wrath of God] to you if each of you, from his heart,
does not forgive his brother his trespasses."
When compared with our debts to God, the debts owed us because
of one another's sins are virtually nothing, are they? So God
instructs us to forgive—from the heart, and not merely
in words. We must be doers of the word, otherwise we are
only deceiving ourselves (Jas 1:22). Sin is not to be overlooked,
nor lightly passed over; there must be rebuke, and repentance
must precede forgiveness. However, subject to these conditions,
there is no limit to the number of times forgiveness, if sought
sincerely, ought to be extended—sincerely:
Lk 17:3-4 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother
sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven
times in a day returns to you [this would be a very difficult
thing for the same offender to do, wouldn't you say? So what is
Christ telling us here?], saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive
him."
Such a willingness to forgive is an attitude of heart! It is also
a spontaneous, heartfelt response to an ongoing awareness that
we ourselves have been much forgiven, like the woman who, fully
conscious of her sinfulness, so humbly and devotedly anointed
the feet of Jesus Christ:
Lk 7:47 "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven, for she loved much [as the proof of
her forgiveness, not the reason for it]. But to whom little is
forgiven [that is, there is the perception that little
needs to be forgiven him], the same loves little."
Why does such an individual 'love little'? Because this is the
legalistic mind and approach of the one who does not truly understand,
nor has fully experienced, the forgiveness of God in his life;
this is the individual who, like the Pharisees of Christ's day,
forgives according to his own rigidly-defined specifications,
and then only when his (not God's!) expectations of the
fruits of repentance are fulfilled by the trespasser, instead
of being always prepared to extend forgiveness. Yet as God is
rich in His grace (Eph 1:7), so ought His people to always be
ready to forgive, to be rich in forgiveness, prompted by God's
forgiveness of us. We must forgive just as God in Christ
Jesus has forgiven us, and we must strive furthermore to forgive
in the same manner—from the heart!
Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, just as [even as, "as readily as" (NJB);
but also "to the degree that, in proportion to": in
other words, totally!] God in Christ forgave you. (Col 3:13).
If we fail in this, how can the love of God, which governs forgiveness,
be perfected in us (1Jn 4:12)?
LOVE OF GOD AND NEIGHBOUR
There is a love that falls short of the love of God. We can easily
love those that love us, which even the tax collectors did, as
Christ pointed out (Mt 5:46). There is a love of the world, a
rival love, opposed to God, which can negate godly love:
1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
The "things in the world"—the spirit, the tone, the
values and attitudes of the world (v 16)—threaten to crush out
divine love.
And there is a love consisting of words, which may be genuine
enough but, just as faith without works is dead, this love is
not fulfilled in actions. Then there is a love with the 'tongue'
which can also consist of hypocritical utterances devoid of truth.
Either way, words of love are unmatched by deeds of love:
1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love [merely]
in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Does our love stop at mere talk, or will it even prove to be downright
insincere? Actions do speak louder than words!
Christ condemned the religious leaders of His day, whose traditions
estranged their hearts from God, for this very thing:
Mk 7:6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah
prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors
Me with their lips ["in word or in tongue"], but their
heart is far from Me.'"
This sort of love is hypocritical and God is worshipped in vain
because of the traditions of men (verses 7-8). Are our human traditions,
our notions and ideas unfounded in Scripture, alienating our hearts
from God?
The true love of God should prompt us not just to love Him devotedly,
but to also love one another, to love our enemies, to bless those
who curse us, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for
our persecutors (Mt 5:44). It should motivate us to strive to
outdo one another in showing honour (Ro 12:10), to be tenderhearted
and courteous to one another (1Pe 3:8). We should love as God
loves and hate as God hates. How far short we all fall in this!
Let us notice these words of God through Moses to ancient Israel:
Dt 10:12-13 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD
your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk
in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the
commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you
today for your good?" (Dt 11:13; 13:3)
The Israelites of old were commanded, in what is known as the
Shema, to love God with all their heart, soul and strength (Dt
6:5) and, in Lev 19:18, to love their neighbour as themselves.
Christ expand further on this in response to a question about
the greatest commandment in the Law:
Mt 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment."
The intent of the command to love God with the heart, soul and
strength was to love Him with the mind, Christ explained,
quoting the Shema. And, although He had not been asked by the
inquirer as to which was the next most important of the commandments,
so inseparable is love for neighbour from love for God that Christ
then restated the law of Lev 19:18, summarizing this as the "second"
great commandment:
39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.'"
He also commended one of the teachers of the law for this wise
interpretation of His words of truth:
Mk 12:33 "And to love Him with all the heart, with
all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all
the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more
[is a higher duty] than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
The involvement, the commitment, is total, one of the heart, the
mind, the understanding.
Joshua likewise understood the nature of the genuine love for
God that is rooted in the deepest recesses of the converted heart:
Jos 22:5 (NIV) "But be very careful [he warns the
Israelites] to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the
servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk
in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast [we
hold fast to what we value, do we not?] to him and to serve
him with all your heart and all your soul."
The true love of God must involve the heart—the mind, the will,
the understanding, the very soul—of a Christian. And our love
for one another must flow from our love for God, and be likewise
an involvement of the mind and will.
Moses foretold to a rebellious nation how this manner of love
would be possible:
Dt 30:6 "And the LORD your God will circumcise
your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that
you may live."
One experiences the life of Christ in one's own spiritual life.
As we have seen, it is the circumcised heart that fully obeys
God, and it is therefore the same circumcised heart that truly
loves Him—and then loves those who are His. In Eph 6:24, the apostle
Paul pronounces the grace of God upon "all those who love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity". This is the love,
the bond of perfection (Col 3:14), which Christians are commanded
to put on. Notice how it is further described in the Scriptures:
1Ti 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love
from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere
faith.
1Pe 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren,
love one another fervently with a pure heart.
Our love for one another is to be sincere (2Co 6:6), pure, without
malice, without hypocrisy, as Paul tells us in Ro 12:9. This is
love in truth, or in the truth (3Jn 1:1). After
admonishing Christians to love in truth and in action, the apostle
John continues, explaining that the good fruits of this love confirm
our faith when the heart is put to the test:
1Jn 3:19-21 (NRSV) And by this [by words of love matched
by a record of deeds of love] we will know that we are from the
truth [the love of God attests to this] and will reassure our
hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us [when our
conscience brings its accusations]; for God is greater than our
hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do
not condemn us, we have boldness before God.
It is this type of love that confidently reassures our hearts
in God's presence when we respond with deeds of self-sacrifice
done out of unfeigned love in good conscience before Him.
How can this fervent, pure, sincere love be put on, be placed
into our hearts?
Ro 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love
of God has been poured out [has been bestowed in abundance,
like the "rivers of living water" of Jn 7:38 which then
flow out from within us in godly love] in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit that was given to us.
Yet as we all realize, this is something for which we need to
ask God on an regular basis. It is possible to be "rooted
and grounded in love" (Eph 3:17) only if this love is deep
inside and flowing out from within our hearts.
Christ's command that we are to love one another as He has loved
us (Jn 13:34) is again to be followed in example as well
as degree. John reaffirms that Christ's words, backed up
by His example, that in its greatest form this love—this determination
of the heart, of the will—includes a preparedness to lay down
one's life for his friends (Jn 15:13) are still the standard for
the Church today:
1Jn 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His
life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
So let us never forget the apostolic command:
1Pe 4:8 (NIV) Above all, love each other deeply, because
love covers over a multitude of sins.
The NRSV renders it as "maintain constant love for one another"—a
love from the heart!
RENEWING OF THE HEART
We considered earlier the renewed heart; let us conclude with
this theme.
Ro 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor
is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he
is a Jew who is one inwardly; and [true, spiritual] circumcision
is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose
praise is not from men but from God.
Christianity is not a matter of external rite or ritual, race
or even written code, but of an attitude of heart, a heart
impacted by, and converted through, the Holy Spirit. Let us ensure
that our service to God and to one another is indeed with the
heart, and see to it that our hearts are continually renewed,
lest our faith, like King Saul's, be aborted.
