March 5, 2019 -- Proverbs 3:1-2 -- Heart check up
/My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
for length of days and years of life
and peace they will add to you.
Proverbs 3:1-2 ESV
“I honestly don’t know why I just did that.” Ever say that to yourself? Perhaps you’d promised not to overeat and you find yourself at the family potluck eating your third dessert. “Why’d I just do that,” you wonder. Or maybe you’d said you were not going to join in with the office gossipy group and, technically you didn’t join in, but you didn’t object, and you didn’t leave when it started and you laughed at others with them. And you left the reputation bruising conversation feeling guilty saying to yourself “I wasn’t going to do that, why did I?!”. Maybe you’d wanted to get more organized but three days later the laundry is unfolded, the room isn’t cleaned and the dishes are still in the sink and you didn’t put out the trash for garbage day. So much for getting organized. “Why don’t I do what I say I’m going to do?”
The writer of Proverbs is calling us to go deeper. Examine your heart. The narrative that your heart tells is the script your thoughts and hands actually follow. With regards to overeating, perhaps you are telling yourself you deserve this, just this once. And you say the same later in the day. Finally the day is wrecked anyways, and you feel the familiar prompt: “go ahead, indulge and tomorrow, or next Monday will be different and the start of something new.”
The passage of scripture is teaching us to keep God’s commandments in our heart. The centre of our being, out of which flows all thoughts and actions, is our heart. By this text we invited to store up and ponder the commandments of God at the very source of our doing: in our heart. When the knives come out at the office, it is the commandments of God that guards you by having your conscience shout at you “Do not murder”. Jesus’ teaching reminds us that we are always to seek the good of others. So, when the knives come out at the office, call people on it. Or walk away. Let the words stored up in your heart guide your actions. This accords with the Word of God.
No one can do this perfectly. I know I’ll fail. There will be a few days of doing better and then failure once again. You have touched the nerve of the issue. At the centre of this whole teaching is not “try harder”. That is a recipe for discouragement, more failure and hardening in the pathway of sinfulness. Instead, note that the commandments add peace to your life. Christ Himself is our peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. What does this mean?
The commandments of God show us the rules for holy living. Since God made us, He has the right to determine how we are to live. The commandments show us how far we are from living as He directs. And with the commandments as our mirrors we go to God and cry out: “who will save me from this body of death?” Thanks be to God in our Lord Jesus Christ—in Jesus we have our sins, failings and shame completely forgiven. Jesus was punished at the cross for our sin. Jesus took our place. He also lived the perfect life, never sinned. The commandments of God were always stored up in His heart and always guided His every word, thought and deed. This right way of living is credited to us, to all who believe in Jesus Christ. What a glory and what a blessing can be ours.
So, what difference does this make? We go to God and thank HIm for this teaching, this truth that Jesus is our peace. In Jesus we become completely new. We no longer live for ourselves, we live for Him. As the hymn-writer teaches us to sing out: “O Jesus, Lord and Saviour, I give myself to Thee, for Thou in Thine atonement, didst give Thyself for me. I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne. My life I give henceforth to live, O Christ for Thee alone.” (Thomas O. Chrisholm, 1917) Suddenly the mountain of laundry and the dishes piled up are not insurmountable. In each piece folded and every utensil washed, we are declaring our love for our Savior. We are in our daily living, giving ourselves in service to Him. Whether or not the family is grateful or ungrateful, whether or not you are thanked, your work is offered to Him Who is seated at the Father’s right-hand, King Jesus.
Again, will there be times we fail? Yes. Will there be times we don’t want to try? Of course. So what do we do? We bring this to our Savior. We do not forget His teaching that it is not our efforts that save us. We are saved by the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. He grew tired in His flesh, but never gave up. He was weary and without a permanent home or place to rest His head and despite this He served His Father without flinching. It was by the Spirit, given to Jesus without measure or limit, that Jesus was able to live so wholeheartedly and perfectly in obedience to the Father. It is the gift of Jesus to every believer, that we should have the Holy Spirit. In the strength of the Spirit we can serve, live, and obey sacrificially.
Blessed are You, O LORD, our Father. You give wisdom and You give life.
Blessed are You, King Jesus, our Life and our Peace.
Blessed are You, Spirit of the Living God, source of the believer’s strength and Giver of all good instruction.
At the start of this new day, give to us, Your true servants, hearts that treasure Your commandments. As these new inclinations of our hearts work their way into our thoughts and actions, let the glory of God shine out in all we do. Amen.
