Many words are used in Scripture to call attention to the great significance of God's law for us. A very unique and interesting one is found in Psalm 119:2. There we read, "Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with the whole heart." The ten commandments are called God's testimonies.
Did you ever think of God's law that way? A testimony is a statement a witness makes in court. And it makes no difference whether you think now of the ten commandments, or, as Jesus gave it to us in a few words, that we love God and for His sake love our neighbor, the testimony of His law is that He is God.
One fundamental truth that runs through God's law is that He, and He only, is God and must be served by all continuously. Does not the law begin with the words, "And God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God"? And the first commandment therefore calls to us and tells us: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
That He alone is God you must say with your whole heart and in every deed you perform, whether it be of the mind, will, or strength. That is why we must heed what we sang yesterday, namely:
How blest the perfect in the way
Who from God's law do not depart,
Who, holding fast the word of truth,
Seek Him with undivided heart.
For our heart is the spiritual control center of our being. It determines what every member and faculty of our being performs. Out of it comes every deed that we perform.
Let me counsel you, therefore, to live according to and to keep God's testimony that He is God. Hold fast His word of truth and not Satan's lie, as Adam did and led us into the curse. Follow in the steps of Christ, Who is the last Adam; and then you will enjoy the blessedness that He realized for us. He kept God's testimonies and called Him God in all His deeds, even while suffering hellish agonies on His cross. And now He is living proof that they who serve God with their whole heart are blessed and will receive everlasting glory in God's kingdom.
Read: Matthew 5:1-20
Psalter versification: 321:1
Daily Meditations
on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #120
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Deuteronomy 28
Luke 11:14-36
Psalm 77:1-20
Proverbs 12:18
****
Quote for Reflection:
"For everyone to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper, without distinction or selection, is a sign of contempt that the Lord cannot endure. The Lord himself distributed the supper to his disciples only. Therefore anyone not instructed in the doctrine of the gospel ought not to approach what the Lord has instituted. No one should be distressed when his Christianity is examined even down to the finest point when he is to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper. It should be established as part of the total state and system of discipline that ought to flourish in the church that those who are judged unworthy should not be admitted" --John Calvin (Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Advice, pp. 154-155).
Additional Info
- Date: 5-April
