God would be in the closest, most
intimate part of
them: their hearts and their minds.
Hebrews 8:10-12 NIV
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
This led me to Revelation 2. I
do not remember exactly what my thought process was that led me there, but
I ended up reading Revelation
2:1-5.
“I know
your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and
that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to
be false; and you have perseverance and
have endured for My name’s sake,
and have not grown weary. But I
have this against you, that you have [divorced] your first love. Therefore
remember from where you have
fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am
coming to you and will remove your lampstand
out of its place—unless you repent.” Revelation 2:2-5 NASB (Emphasis added)
This is about the heart. That is what God was after.
He noticed their deeds and He praised them. But there was something lacking in
their deeds. In verse 5 God speaks of deeds they are not doing but they used to
do. Is God asking for them to do more work? Is more work what pleases Him? No,
what He wanted was deeds done from the heart. He wanted their deeds to come out
of the love they had for Him. God desires intimacy with His people. This is why
Jesus died, so sins could be forgiven and a relationship with God could be
restored.
When God is speaking to the church in Ephesus, He
says they have left, or divorced, their first love, which is God. They had this
renewed relationship with God and something or someone had drawn their
attention and their hearts away. They were no longer devoted to God as they had
been and they had not kept Him in His rightful position of being first.
This holds true for all believers. Sometimes we can
be enticed away from God and not love Him first anymore. Of course sometimes we
don’t notice the problem because, like the church in Ephesus, we are still
doing things for God and can see what is evil and know that it is wrong. However, our devotion is lacking. We no
longer seek to spend as much time as possible with God in prayer or in His word
or in praising Him or in listening to Him. We do some good things and spend some time
with God because we certainly don’t hate Him, but do we love Him? Like we did at
first? Like we did when He was our everything? Are we doing good and godly
things because we should, or because we love God?
Sometimes we can confuse doing things for God as
love for God. It’s true that if we love God, then we will do what pleases Him,
but the reverse is not always true. Doing what pleases God does not necessarily
mean we love Him. We could do good things because we think it will earn us good
favor with God (which it won’t. Romans 2:11), or because we want to show off
and get attention, or because we think we can repay God (which we can't. Romans 11:35).
God wants the heart. He wants deeds done out of love
for Him, not empty religion. He wants a devoted heart that keeps Him in His
rightful place: first. Love for God should come before deeds. Love for God leads to obedience.
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first
and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37,38 NIV
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