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Like Israel of old, believers in Jesus Christ have been redeemed unto good works (Eph. 2.8-10); we show our love for God by studying to learn and working to practice all He describes as expressions of speech and word that are consistent with love for Him. Certainly if we love God with all our soul, from within, it will be easier to love Him with our strength, for what we do will effectively and efficiently flow from the kind of people we are.
Similarly, as we show love for God in words and deeds, such practices reinforce our inward convictions, making us firmer and more convinced of the love we have for God in our inner being, and, thus, more likely to show that love consistently in our lives. A symbiosis of inward and outward transformation, oriented around and motivated by pure love for God, thus brings the commandments of God – holy and righteous and good – into flesh before the watching world.
In order to love God from within we must take His Law into our inner being (Ps. 119.9-11). We must lay His words up within our hearts. Here the heart, which, as we have seen, has the primacy in the soul, is used by hendiadys to stand for the soul in its entirety.
We must study the Law of God, meditating in it day and night (Ps. 1). Thus our minds will be informed by God’s will; our hearts will incline to love what He has revealed (Ps. 119.97); our priorities will line up with what we are coming to know and love; and we will follow the Law as a path to guide us in all our ways (Ps. 119.105).
There is no substitute for daily reading, reflection, and study in the Word of God, beginning in His Law, if we would become the kind of people who love Him supremely and enjoy all the blessings of eternal life with Him.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.