Wholehearted devotion

 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." --Psalm 51:10 and 17

I was watching an episode of Moonlighting, a sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1989 and starred Bruce Willis.  If you are familiar with the series, you know that a lot of dialogue is two people speaking over one another.  In this particular episode, two underlings, employees of the Blue Moon Detective Agency, were trying to impress their boss (the Bruce Willis character), and were talking over one another.  Willis held up his hand, and the chatter stopped.

"What's the rule?" Willis said, sounding like a grade school teacher.

The two men hung their heads in shame, and said in unison, "No talking over each other."

"And what are we supposed to do?" Willis said, again in his teacher voice.

"Raise our hands if we have something to say," the men replied.

It was a cute scene, one that my wife (who was an elementary school teacher for years) could identify with.  I thought of that scene this week when I was reading through Deuteronomy chapter 10.  Often, I can hear God using His teacher voice when He is speaking through the Scriptures.  And if we humble yourselves, and stop trying to speak over Him, we will become like little children and soak in the lesson.

What's the rule?

Picking up in Deuteronomy chapter 10, verses 12 and 13, we kind of hear God using the Socratic method in His teaching.  The difference is that when He asks a question, He immediately supplies the answer.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God required of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding today for your good?

This same question is found in Micah 6:8, which says, "He has told you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God?"

God is giving the people instruction for living through the words of Moses.  "What does God require?"  How many times have we asked God to show us His will in certain situations?  When Moses poses the question, he gently prods the people.  It is as if he was saying, "Come on, you know."  Fear God.  Walk in His ways.  Love Him completely.  Serve Him exclusively, joyfully, and zealously.  Realize that the consequences of following His statutes are for our good.  It will result in justice, kindness, and humility.

And why do we behave this way?

God is holy

Deuteronomy 10:14 says, "Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it."  In short, God is greater than we are, and He deserves our obedience.  1 Kings 8:27 says, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built?"

Nehemiah 9:6 says, "You are the Lord, You alone.  You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You."  Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein."

God is great, and His greatness exceeds our capacity to comprehend Him.  Nevertheless, He desires communion with us.

He chose us

Deuteronomy 10:15 says, "Yet the Lord set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day."  In Isaiah 66:1-2 we see these words: 

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what is the house that you should build for me, and what is the place of My rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.  But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.

In the same way that God chose Israel out of all of the nations of the earth to be blessed in the Old Testament, we also see that He has chosen His Church, His elect, throughout the New Testament.  In John 15:16, Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."

In 2 Timothy 2:10 Paul said, "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."  1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 says, "We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you (emphasis added)."

He chose us to praise Him.  He chose us to serve Him.  He chose us to share the Gospel message with the whole world.  Given this awesome and terrifying commission, how then should we respond?

The heart of the matter.

Deuteronomy 10:16 says, "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn."  We all know that circumcision was a sign given to the Jews to show that they were set apart, obedient to the will of God.  But God didn't just want an outward sign of obedience.  Circumcision was not intended to be a duty, something to check off on some divine list.  God desires a heart change.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh."  He wants to take away our hardened hearts, and give us hearts that are softened by His Spirit.  Softer hearts are more concerned with other people than ourselves.  Softer hearts are more vulnerable, more prone to being broken; but isn't that what sacrifice is all about?  Can you see God's heart in the sacrifice He made for us?  Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"

Psalm 9:1 says, "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds."  Psalm 19:14 says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."  Joel 2:12-13 says, "Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster."

In Matthew 5:8, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  In Luke 6:45, Jesus said, "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasures produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."  We who are saved have an innate desire to please Him, to do good in His name.  It all starts with a new heart.

Romans 10:9-10 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."  We must follow Him and serve Him wholeheartedly.