My Dear Grandchildren,
A little birdie told me that while watching the lectures on the Puritans you encountered the idea of loving and obeying God wholeheartedly and that my writing something on this topic just might be helpful. So, always wanting to be helpful, I’ll share a few thoughts on this with you in this letter.
Now, you know where I will begin. Definitions! (So many difficulties can be completely avoided just by being clear on exactly what you’re talking about!) So, what’s the definition of ‘wholehearted’? Well, if you were to look it up in a dictionary, you’d find something like this.
fully or completely sincere, enthusiastic, energetic, etc.; hearty; earnest
And that’s okay. But I want to approach this in a different way, a way that I think will be more helpful to you.
What is the opposite of ‘wholehearted’? It’s ‘half-hearted’. And that fits with some things about our topic that I’ve found in the Bible.
First, notice what James says.
For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:7–8
And being James, he is not content to say it once. He repeats himself.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8
He explains this double-mindedness here.
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4
James saw that in the hearts of those saints there was a little bit of God and a little bit of the world: double-mindedness. Their problem was pursuing God half-heartedly.
This leads to Elijah.
And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21
Elijah tells them to stop their double-mindedness, their half-heartedness, and to pick one way or the other. Be wholeheartedly for the Lord or wholeheartedly for Baal.
Now, to pull this together, consider a couple of verses from Psalm 86. First, this.
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86.11
David wants a united heart! Not divided between this and that, a little bit of the world and a little bit of God, following Baal and following the Lord. No, a united heart, one that is fully focused on the Lord. That’s the goal.
And here, in the next verse, is the result of a heart that has been united, been made one.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86.12
Here’s the point. To love and obey God wholeheartedly is to have Him as the single focus of your heart. There is no ‘limping between two different opinions’. There is no friendship with the world that compromises vows to God. No double-mindedness. The heart is united with a single goal: to love and obey God.
Jesus taught about this, but it is not commonly understood as such. This is how His words are often translated.
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. Matthew 6:22
The word He used is not to be translated as ‘clear’ or as other translations have it, ‘healthy’. It should be translated ‘single’. ‘If your eye is single…’ Jesus is talking about being focused on one thing, single-eyed devotion. And that is just another way to talk about an undivided heart that is completely given to one goal, the love and obedience of God.
It is interesting to see what Jesus goes on to speak about in this context.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matthew 6:24
Jesus is talking about wholehearted devotion to God, a heart that is focused only on Him, instead of a heart that is divided between serving God and serving money. This is the same basic idea that James and Elijah and David were talking about.
That’s the theory. And now, the practice. How do you achieve this goal of wholehearted devotion to God?
Well, first, understand your enemy. The last thing that Satan wants is your wholehearted devotion to God. So, he’s going to try to trip you up. But remember, he is sneaky. So, he won’t attack you directly. No, it will be something subtle. (Remember that he tempted Adam and Eve by speaking some truth with a lie mixed in.) He will try to distract you from the goal. Once that happens, single-eyed devotion is compromised.
The things that he will use to distract you don’t have to be obviously terrible things. They may well be good things that you should give yourself to. So, how many mothers have divided hearts because their children are too important to them? How many fathers have divided hearts because their jobs are too important to them? Now, should mothers care about their kids? Should fathers work hard at their jobs? Absolutely! But they need to do that as a way of being devoted to God. They need eyes that are single, focused on Him. And having that kind of attitude, they will do all sorts of good things as mothers and fathers.
So, being aware of your enemy, what’s next? What do you do to grow in wholehearted devotion to God? As always, it starts with prayer. Let’s go back to that Psalm.
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86.11
First, notice that this is a prayer. Trying to live well by depending on what you can do on your own will result in a failed life. A successful life begins by praying to the Father because you know that you can’t do it on your own. Jesus said,
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5
Did you catch that last part? Nothing means nothing. I have it underlined and highlighted in my Bible. Maybe you should too.
And what do you pray for? What does the Psalm say?
unite my heart to fear your name.
A heart that fears God understands that He is watching all that we do. This heart understands that He watches in order to encourage and reward efforts in the right direction, efforts at single-eyed devotion. And then, on the Last Day, He is the one who will bless with rewards those who have worked at (not who were perfect at) wholehearted devotion.
However, a heart that is divided is a heart that does not fear God. It does not understand that He is watching all that we do and that, in this life, He will thwart and frustrate those who do not work at wholehearted devotion and in the life to come He will condemn them.
So, let me encourage you to include this theme in your prayers. Pray for a heart that is undivided, fully focused on devotion to God. As you do that, you will see the Spirit do His good work in your lives. You will see wholehearted devotion to God growing in you.
With my love,
Grandpa B
No comments:
Post a Comment