The Heart of Primal Christianity...

When Jesus was asked by a teacher of the law, of all the commandments which was the most important - Mark 12:28-30.  Possibly, he expected to hear a ranking of many by Jesus for the some 613 Old Testament Commands. The lawyer must have been taken back by the response he received. Jesus took all of the commands and laws, then in comparison to the many, offered them up condensed into one simple yet very complex statement.


AMO DEI. LOVE GOD.

Simple in that the greatest command is to love God, but complex in all of the respects that we are to love Him. In any case, His answer was short, direct and to the point. To the same extent, that is what Christianity should look like... simple and to the point. So let’s take a journey of simplifying how we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength.

It would be difficult if not next to impossible to love God with a heart that loves as the world does! So let us take some time to look at how God makes it possible for us to love Him with all our heat. The following passage of Scripture gives us an illustration of this heart transplant of sorts - Ezekiel 36:22-27.

Transplanted in you... When we give our lives to Christ, we experience a phenomenon of receiving the heart of Christ in us. At that point we are cleansed and purified then our heart of stone is removed and replaced with a heart that is receptive, tender and feels the same compassion that Christ Himself would feel.

In this exchange of hearts, we now begin to act and feel as He does. We begin to find our heart breaking for things that breaks the heart of God. If we are not careful and mindful of our relationship to Him; over time our heart can be hardened by the happenings of the world and attitudes around us. So ask yourself the following questions.

Q. Can you describe what is was like when you first noticed in your Christian walk that you no longer thought as the world does and began to have sympathy breakthroughs for the needs around you?

Q. Do you find yourself wishing you had acted or reacted differently to a situation that has taken place and then search for a change of heart to react differently next time?

Q. Have you ever found yourself giving someone or something more time with your heart than God, and if so, what are some of the things we can give up or cut back on to begin the process of giving our total heart back to God?

Stay tuned in the following weeks for the next steps we will take together in this journey.