Bulletin Article for October 12, 2014

Take It To Heart

by Chris Simmons

In Deuteronomy chapter 4 we read of God’s exhortations to His people before they were to take possession of the land He was giving to them. Among the many exhortations found in this chapter is one that we should pause to reflect upon as it encapsulates virtually every other admonition given. Moses said in verses 39-40, “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” That encapsulating exhortation is “take it to your heart.” Moses used that same expression just before his death (Deuteronomy 32:46) and it was also used by the prophet Malachi when he warned the priests who were failing to fulfill their priestly duties when he said in Malachi 2:1-2 that God would withhold His blessings and in fact curse them if they did not “take it to heart.” This is an expression we perhaps use today but we need to be very clear about what it means to take something to heart.

If you turn to reference works available today (such as McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs and Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms), you will find that the expression has some very important applications for our spiritual lives before God about what it means for us to “take it to heart.”

It’s significant to oneself. We take to heart things that matter and are of grave importance. When we read and study God’s word, we need to remember that we are dealing with matters of life and death. We need to hear the words of Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity.” What we do with and how we choose to respond to God’s word will decide which of the two fates will be ours. We take God’s words to heart because the consequences are eternal. Those who reject His words “will pay the penalty of eternal destruction” (II Thessalonians 1:9) whereas the righteous will receive the “eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17; cf. Matthew 25:46). When we are making decisions about what we do and say and think, are we considering their significance and taking them to heart? When we make choices about our relationship to the Lord, our relationship with our brethren, our relationship with our spouses and our family, and our relationship with those in the world, are we taking to heart God’s will in each and every relationship we have? Our choices matter and are eternally significant. We need to take that to heart.

It’s taken seriously. Our spiritual lives before God are no joking matter. If we’re taking God’s word to heart, we will take our duties and responsibilities seriously and it will be reflected in how we spend our time. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15-17, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” If we are taking to heart God’s will, we will be serious in our study and meditation of God’s word by setting aside the time for our own personal reflection (cf. James 1:23-25) and for the time to study together with our fellow saints. We will take our worship of God seriously and plan our time so that we will be there at every opportunity (on time) to offer our praise to God. We will take our worship seriously in that we will not come together to seek to be entertained but to offer spiritual sacrifices to God and to serve our brethren. If we are taking it to heart, we will be serious about the “race that is set before us” and “lay aside every encumbrance” and turn from every sin and “run with endurance” and great discipline every day of our lives (Hebrews 12:1). The Olympic athlete is very serious about their training and takes to heart everything they do as far as whether it will help or hurt them in their pursuit of the goal. Paul clearly makes the point that we’re to be as serious about our pursuit of heaven as the Olympic athlete is about a perishable reward (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

It’s internalized. Taking God’s will to heart means that our response to Bible teaching is from the inside out. Taking it to heart isn’t about putting on an outward show. In Biblical times, in addition to wailing, weeping, and the wearing of sackcloth, it was common for one to tear (or rend) their clothes as an outward sign of grief, anger, or despair. In Joel 2:12-13, the prophet reminds God’s people of where true repentance takes place. “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil.” We may not have the habit of tearing our clothes to show that we’re upset or disappointed but we can still be tempted to simply put on an outward display of regret in lieu of a true change to our heart. When Paul talked about “godly sorrow” in II Corinthians 7:10-11, he spoke of a change in the heart of man as evidenced by “indignation,” “fear,” “longing,” and “zeal.” Granted, there is to be some fruit of repentance that others should be aware of (“vindication” and “avenging of wrong”) but if we take God’s word to heart, we’re going to start with a change of our heart.

We’re personally affected. Taking God’s word to heart means that our application of truth begins with our self. We don’t take it to heart when we listen to the gospel being proclaimed and think of everyone else (our brother or sister in Christ, our spouse, our children, our visitors, etc.) who need to apply the teaching from God’s word, and not ourselves. One commonly misunderstood passage of scripture is Matthew 7:1-5 from which people like to take verse one out of context and say that we’re not to judge anyone. Rather, the whole context is about hypocrisy and our personal responsibility to take God’s will to heart and apply it to ourselves before we focus on others. Verse 5 means that we’re a hypocrite when we fail to take it to heart ourselves but insist on others doing so. We should take note that when Paul addressed the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, that in verse 28 he exhorted them to “be on guard for yourselves” before he addressed the need for them to exercise oversight and “be on guard … for all the flock.” Paul was exhorting these elders of their need to take it to heart. When we look into “the perfect law … of liberty” (James 1:25), it’s our own heart that we’re to be examining rather than everyone else’s. Granted, we’re to seek to turn others from the errors of their ways (Galatians 6:1) but we need to ensure that we’re right with God before we do so. The temptation is to be like Peter in John 21:21 and go through life responding to God’s will with an attitude of “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus’ response was to tell Peter that he personally needed to take to heart God’s will and then commanded, “you follow Me!”

Lastly, we’re accepting of God’s rebukes, reproofs, and instruction. In other words, taking it to heart means that though the truth may hurt (Acts 2:37), we will receive the word (Acts 2:41) and will do so with great humility (James 1:21). Will we take it to heart when someone comes to us with exhortation or reproof from God’s word because that’s in fact what it really is; “the word of God’s message” and not “the word of men” (I Thessalonians 2:13)? Shall we not accept the discipline of the Lord and “be subject to the Father of spirits and live” (Hebrews 12:9)?

Will I take it to heart, realizing that I’m in a life or death struggle for my soul and that I need to soberly, and personally accept God’s will – His commands, reproofs, rebukes, and exhortations – for my eternal good?