LEARNING DAILY

 

Micah 6:8, He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

If we are going to walk on the narrow way to God’s kingdom, we must know what He requires from us in doing so. Micah was referring to Deuteronomy 10:12-13 where Moses said, “Hear 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 and serve the Lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? God showed His amazing grace even in the Old Testament. Moses was emphasizing to Israel that loving and following God must come from the heart. For those of us doing everything we can to walk on the narrow way, we must remember that God does not want us to substitute heartfelt love for Him with religious traditions and following Him in ways to be seen by men. For example, Christians might read the Bible, pray and do all the right things regarding church but not do it from a heartfelt devotion to God; that could be called legalism because it can be done without having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Sincere faith in Him and love for Him can only come because of who He is and what He has done for us through the cross and resurrection.

 

Let me explain what “the heart” means. When the Bible speaks of the heart, it refers to one’s intellect, emotions and choices. The Bible speaks of knowing things from the heart (an inner knowing) (Deuteronomy 8:5). Psalm 119:11 says we are to hide God’s Word in our heart. Psalm 19:14 tells believers to meditate in their heart. Proverbs 4:21 tells us to keep God’s Word in our heart. Romans 10:9 tells us to believe in our heart.

 

As for our emotions the Bible speaks of the heart as the center of our feelings. Let me give just a few of the verses that speak of this. We are to have a glad heart (Exodus 4:14), a repentant heart (Psalm 51:17), and a humble heart (Matthew 11:29).

 

The heart is the center of our choices. There are verses that tell us to not have a hardened heart that refuses to do what God commands us to do. Instead, we are to have a heart that is yielded to God (Joshua 24:23), a heart that is devoted to seeking the Lord (Chronicles 22:19), a heart that desire to receive from God (Psalm 21:1-2), and a heart that wants to do something for God (Romans 10:1). These things come because we choose to do what God desires, commands us to do.

 

The human heart has become polluted with evil due to the fall of Adam and Eve. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked’. Jesus confirmed that what makes a person unclean before God was not all the ceremonial stuff being done but the serious sin that comes from sin. Take a few minutes to read Mark 7:17-23! The human heart is committed to doing evil; continuing to do so may cause one’s heart to become hardened. Those who continue to refuse to listen to God and follow their own heart will find God eventually hardening their heart, so they have no desire at all for God’s Word and desire to follow Him. An example of this would be Pharoah’s heart as shown in the book of Exodus.

 

But God has an answer to this problem. To all who repent and place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, He gives to them a new heart. This is called regeneration and means that He creates in the person who is “born again”, a spiritual rebirth, a desire to love Him and obey Him. God has repeatedly emphasized in His Word that people must love Him from their heart and that this love must include obedience to Him. This is not an outward appearance, not a substitution of religious ceremonies but a genuine love for Him that flows from the heart.