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The Heart of Godly Obedience


Proverbs 3:1
"My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,"


In this verse we find two very simple appeals from a Father to his son that at first read seem quite straight forward, and they are, but there are three words that I believe, give this verse special meaning. Those words are "let your heart."  The psalmist could have simply wrote, "keep my commandments," but we see the wisdom of God as he instructs us to not simply obey commands for the sake of blind obedience, but to "let our hearts" be at the center of the action.


Our "heart" is simply the true us. The us that other people may not be able to see, but God surely does. Out heart is not an outward emotional display, but reflects the sum-total of our true inner physical and spiritual desires. If we're honest, most of us, including me, have a divided "heart" to some degree or another. We find ourself with conflicting desires. This is the struggle with the flesh that is spoken about in Romans chapter 7, and is the normal and expected battle that all true Christians must face. However, we are called to full heart obedience, love, and worship. That is our goal. We struggle to pursue this goal as if we can achieve it in this life, but at the same time knowing that we never will. 


So the question is how? How do we "not forget"? How do we "let our heart"?


The prerequisite is to be "born-again" * by the Spirit of God by believing the Gospel by faith. Then and only then does anyone have the ability to resist the flesh and it's desires to sin. A true child of God is given new desires for Him and begins to be repulsed by sin. It is only after this regereration that a person is expected to keep these biblical commands. An pagan or false-convert would read these words and quickly realize their utter inability and lack of heart desire to obey even the simplest commands given in the scripture. This very thing is how God softens the heart and produces repentence.


So back to the questions at hand? 


How do we not forget God's teaching. 
The writer of the psalm correctly implies that we tend to be quick to forget teaching that we hear. I would suggest the obvious answer: study, read, memorize, and meditate on the teachings of God found in the Bible. The desire for God is already there to some degree in every true believer, so it's a matter of minimizing the distractions in life that would compete for our desires.


How do we "let our heart" keep God's commands? 
By growing closer in our communion with God, through intimate prayer, and growing in our knowledge of Him. The more we know of God through His Word, the more accurately we see Him as He truly is, and the more we grow in our love and desire for Him. It is then, that we can obey with full heart obedience. Not out of religious duty or fear, but out of sheer desire to show love to the One who first showed so much love toward us.


* A blog post where I go into the "born again" subject a little deeper


Click to read the next post in the Proverbs series

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