So, I was reading my Bible this morning. In Jeremiah 32:39, this phrase really jumped off the page at me.
“I will give them SINGLENESS OF HEART AND ACTION. so that they will always fear me...”
In the passage, the disobedient and idolatrous nations of Israel and Judah were being exiled to Babylon as God’s wrath was being executed against their sin. But even before this punishment was taking place, God was telling them of their restoration and what it would look like. He was going to give them “singleness of heart and mind”. They had been living in a state of not “total” desertion of their faith, but they were mixing their worship of God with the worship of other “gods”. This was not acceptable to God. He desires for us to have an “undivided heart“. King David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. –Psalm 86:11).
I went back and read it again. “Singleness of heart and mind“. I just sat here quietly, allowing that phrase to marinate in my heart and mind. That’s when the Spirit brought to mind the passage in James 2 where it says, “So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead)….As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead“, (17, 26). I sat quietly for a bit longer, pondering all of this, when God gave me the nudge to move on in my morning routine. So I moved on to reading the devotionals that are inboxed to me daily. Well.…can you say BAM!!!?!!! (haha)
“Have I been making a fair show in the flesh without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus?”
God was not just teaching me from Jeremiah so can “know stuff”. He wanted me to truly EXAMINE my heart. You see, I get so excited when I study and learn from God’s Word. I sooo enjoy digging deep and “pickin’ the meat off the bone” so to speak. But like Spurgeon said, “to receive the word in the ear” (study) is only one part of the equation. As God said through Spurgeon so painfully direct to me, “a lively impression of the Word is not always a lasting one.”
And so my conversation with God began.
“So Lord, is ‘a lively impression of the Word’ wrong?“
“No child, it’s not…”
“Oh good!..because I get so excited when…”
“…UNLESS….”
“Unless…????“
“Yes, daughter. UNLESS that lively impression is where it ends. Remember when Spurgeon said ‘Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time.’? Well, the ‘downwards’ he speaks of is a picture of our relationship…of you being rooted in my Word…reading and studying as you do.”
“So Abba, You’re pleased with me? I’m doing it right?!??“
“There you go again, jumping ahead of Me, daughter. Slow it down…and shhhhhhhh so you can hear ALL I have to say”
“Sorry Lord…I’m listening.”
“As I was saying, the ‘downward’ is your study of my Word; but the ‘upwards’ is the outward proof of that study. You are doing good daughter in the downward….but I want you to focus more intently on the outward proof. Remember what I brought to your attention… faith without deeds and obedience to back it up is a powerless faith.”
(this is me being struck with silence….)
“Daughter, I don’t teach you things ‘just for you’. I teach you things that, like a stone dropped in a pond ripples outward, you will affect those around you when the Truth I teach you is LIVED OUT“.
“Oh my goodness, Abba! The song! The lyrics of the song you brought across my path this morning!!
(pausing to look up the exact lyrics). Just wow..
Check this out!! A friend of mine send me the link of For God and Country performing on the Jay Leno show. I watched it this morning before I read the Spurgeon devotional. They performed, “The Proof of Your Love“. Check out this stanza…it’s exactly what God was talking about!!
“So let my life be the proof
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You
And what You’re made of
How you lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof
The proof of Your love”
So, my take-away this morning..?
- God is all-powerful and in control of EVERYTHING. All the things He used to teach me this morning – Bible reading…internet devotionals…songs shared by friends – were used to teach me what He needed me to learn.
- God desires for me to learn and then to LIVE OUT His truth.
- My heart for God has to have arms and legs, hands and feet. My faith, my heart for God, needs action to make it complete.
FAITH IS AN ACTION WORD!