Mt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38) This is the first and great commandment. 39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Mt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. In Vacation Bible School, little four year-old Sarah held her hand on top of her head during the pledge of allegiance to the American Flag. Her teacher asked her why she did that. Little Sarah replied, “Because, that is where my heart is. My mother always puts her hand on top of my head and says, ‘Bless your little heart, Sarah.’ ”
As the human heart is the center of vitality in the human body, so is the spiritual heart the very center of vitality in the spiritual life of a Christian. It is from there, that we choose our allegiances, make our choices and decisions. It is from the heart we apply the emotion and fervency to those decisions and choices.
The problem we encounter is our depraved nature. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” There must be a conversion of the heart to bring it under allegiance to God. Romans 10:9 say, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” When a person trusts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, God quickens the heart and makes it spiritually alive. However, a Christian has still his old nature to contend with. It is from the heart that allegiance of life is made.
From the heart, we choose our love and with our love, our devotion and from our devotion, our allegiance and from our allegiance, our obedience. The key to allegiance is surrender. When we consider, the love of God in giving His only begotten Son to save us from our sinful state, how can we not yield to him the love of our hearts.
Lord, I yield my heart in love to thee today. Give me wisdom in my heart to serve you with all my might. Amen
