With All Your Heart

Wow – reading the Bible in a year keeps you moving so fast it’s hard sometimes to stop and take a breath. Today (11 April) we are moving into 1 Kings, and while I have managed to keep up, I’m still reflecting on Deuteronomy!

In Luke 10:25-28 “a lawyer” (ESV) asks Jesus how he can get eternal life.

In return Jesus asks the lawyer what the law says.

The lawyer replies “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (NET)

Here’s an argument to think about …

1. The question in discussion is “what shall I do to inherit eternal life”.

2. Jesus asks, and the man answers a question about The Law – about God’s Law – The Jews called the first 5 books of the Bible the Books of Law.

3. Therefore it is clear that the answer to the question about eternal life is found in The Law. In fact, Jesus commends the man saying “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (NET)

4. Very often people will make comments along these lines: “The Old Testament is about law and the New Testament is about grace” – as if to say: “Just read the New Testament, you can ignore the Old Testament”. In contrast, Jesus is saying that the way to get eternal life is found in The Law – in the Old Testament.

5. Now none of us can live up to the standard of God’s Law. As a friend reminded me last night – none of us can truly say to Jesus: “Yes, I have loved the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength and with all my mind – all the time.”

6. Therefore we all need the redeeming love of Jesus – to be washed clean by His cleansing blood. We need the forgiveness that only God can give.

Recently I watched the ABC’s Questions & Answers episode in which Richard Dawkins is one of the guests. Dawkins neatly & pretty much correctly summarises Christian belief. Watch it, or read the transcript here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s2831712.htm

Dawkins says:
“The New Testament – you believe, if you believe in the New Testament, that God, the all powerful creator of the universe couldn’t think of a better way to forgive humanity’s sins than to have himself put on earth, tortured and executed in atonement for the sins of humanity? What kind of a horrible, depraved notion is that?”

The problem here is not that Dawkins has misinterpreted Christian doctrine – he hasn’t! He has correctly summarised it, but his reaction to it is that it is horrible and depraved.

7. It is possible to understand the doctrine of salvation without loving it.

8. The way to eternal life is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart …” In actual fact, when we look at the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us – if we are moved to love God as a result of His extravagant love for us then we move into a position of being able to repent of our sin and place our faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sin.

Only those who “love the Lord with all their heart” are going to truly respond to the cross in repentance and faith. If you don’t love God with all your heart then your reaction to the cross may range from indifference to the sense of horror that Richard Dawkins expressed.

9. How do we come to know and understand that the way to gain eternal life is through loving God? Like the lawyer speaking to Jesus, we learn this truth through reading the law!

Search the ESV for the phrase “with all your heart” and you will find it 19 times. 3 of those are in the New Testament; one in Matthew, one in Mark & one in Luke – the 3 versions of the story at the top of this post.

All the other 16 times that the Bible uses the phrase it is regarding our relationship with God.

With all our hearts we are to seek, to serve, to fear, to obey, to turn to, to return to, to trust in and to love the LORD our God!

We find this truth by reading our Old Testament. 9 times this phrase is used in the book of Deuteronomy! The so-called dry and dusty books of The Law contain the truth on how to gain eternal life. Don’t neglect the Old in favour of the New. Both must be read and related to each other.

Look at the cross of Christ and love the LORD your God with all your heart!

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