Heartectomy

There is nothing wishy-washy about loving God whole-heartedly.  It is, without a doubt, an all or nothing proposition.  I have found myself more than once going through the motions, doing the *right* things (reading the Bible regularly, being involved in ministry, etc.) but lacking the passionate love for Jesus that He articulated as the first, foremost and really, the only thing He wants from me.  Like the Ephesians who were addressed by John in Revelation 2, I am guilty.

 ¹ “To the angel^[a] of the church in Ephesus write:

   These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

   ⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

What is the only acceptable response to this dilemma?  "Repent and do the things you did at first."  Look back and remember the love that burned within your heart, repent for growing cold, return to Me...this is what God says to me when I find myself having forgotten how to love Him with all that I am.


Moses, in Deuteronomy 30, gets REALLY serious as he expounds on an earlier admonition to "circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer" (Deut. 10:16).  This is the way, he says, to be a fully devoted God-follower - by allowing HIM to do the heavy lifting, whatever it takes to bring us to the place we need to be:

 ⁶ The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.


Surgery is what is required...a removal of the covering I allow to grow over my heart.  Only when it is cut away can I love Him with all my heart.  Something stands in the way.  It comes between me and the God who demonstrated His love for me in the most unimaginable way - by giving Himself on my behalf that I might be made right before a Holy God.  God is the surgeon and I place myself in His hands, trusting Him to cut as deep as He needs to in order to get rid of whatever it is that holds me back...so that [I] may love him with all [my] heart and with all [my] soul and live.