Chapter 14

IT DOESN’T WORK

As WE COME to this last chapter, I am well aware that there will be some of you who have read so far and in your mind there is this kind of reasoning: “Yes, this sounds good, but I’ve tried this commitment thing before and it didn’t work.”

I have met this reply in various places. The person had gone through all the motions, believed all the beliefs, and. then as time went on, he found something was wrong, somewhere, because it didn’t work.

Let me share some final thoughts with you from God’s Word. I know it works. I have seen lives changed, wonderfully transformed. I am referring to believers, those to whom God has brought a real sense of living. This could be you; your life could be changed.

Look with me in Jeremiah, chapter 29, and hear God speaking to His people on this same subject of reality in living. Verse 11 begins, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Here God is saying that He has a plan for your life. Your way may be confused and cloudy, but God knows His way. It is a way of peace, not of failure, “to give you an expected end.” It is real; you can count upon it, expect it. He continues, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD” (29:12-14).

God is promising all this blessing—of seeking and finding - on one condition, “when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” This is the secret of success—and the explanation for failure—”with all your heart.” The key word is all. This is basically the only reason for failure in human experience, not seeking God with all the heart.

Now look in Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Bible. There is one key phrase which occurs six times in these verses. See verse 2: “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.” This verse means exactly what it says; it is not just a group of religious words. It is saying there is blessing for you—soul peace, quiet rest in your
heart—on one condition, that you seek the Lord with your whole heart.

Verse 9 is a great challenge to youth. How can I cleanse my whole way from sin and shame and impurity, and keep it clean? Again there comes the same answer: “With my whole heart have I sought thee.”

All God’s blessings become personal and real when I seek Him with my whole heart.

Let us find out now what this phrase means, “all your heart.” First of all, what is your heart? These verses certainly don’t refer to the fleshly organ that pumps the blood around your body. Well then, where is it? It is  surprising how many Christians do not know where their heart is, or what it is. If you do not know what the heart is, you cannot seek Him with all of what you do not know. This, again, is why there is so much failure. Ignorance is often to blame more than insincerity.

The Bible teaches quite simply and plainly that the heart is the human personality. Your heart is the real you. The heart, or personality, is made up of three separate parts. Any good book on psychology will teach you the same concept. The words may be different, but the meaning is the same.

Man is a trinity, in more ways than one. The three parts are the emotions, the mind, and the will. It is in this same order that they usually function. See how the Lord Jesus taught this truth in His ministry. Concerning the emotions, He said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mk 7:21-22) . What a horrible list of human abominations — all the evil emotions that stir in the lives of men and women! Notice that the Lord said these came out of the heart.

Likewise He said, “Let not your heart be troubled” (Jn. 14: 1) , linking the emotion of fear with the heart. These verses show us the simple truth that the heart is where the emotions are.

Regarding the mind, Jesus said, “Why think ye evil in your heart?” (Mt 9:4). Likewise, when he was speaking to a group of scribes, He said, “Why reason ye . . . in your hearts?” (Mk 2:8). Thus the heart is also the place where we think, plan, reason, scheme—it is the mind of the man.

There is a beautiful verse in Daniel, chapter 1, concerning the young man Daniel as he faced his future life. Like many young people today, he was at a college, studying hard. He had a scholarship which included everything, even the food. The food offered to him, however, had connections with idol worship. Now Daniel loved the Lord, and he wanted no part with anything that might hurt his love for God. And so we read, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat” (Dan 1:8) He exercised his will; he “purposed in his heart.” The will is the third part of the human heart. Other passages in the Bible add to this same teaching, that the human heart consists of the emotions, the mind, and the will.

Take this information and put it into focus as we see the first phrases again: “when ye shall search for me with all your heart,” “that seek him with the whole heart.” We can see right away that there is a depth of meaning which we did not consider before.

There is a natural pattern of thinking which assumes that to seek I-Jim with the whole heart means to be more sincere, to try harder, to really work at it. Some think it means to love the Lord more. This is true in a way, but that is not all that it implies.

We will be helped if we realize that “a whole-heart” involvement is not just a spiritual term. God has created us in such a way that we operate in this whole-heart system what ever we are engaged in. Unless our emotions are stirred by the story we are reading, we will put the book down; it has no interest for us. If the TV program does not grip us emotionally, we change to another channel. If the football game does not move us to excitement, we write it off as a poor game. Likewise, it is right and proper that we should be emotionally moved in our response to the Lord and His love for us. Those who condemn the involvement of the emotions in evangelism cannot justify their remarks; this is the way we are made.

But the danger begins when I imagine that all the Lord wants from me is my love. True, I will love Him, and as I continue to meditate on all His goodness, I will love Him more and more. But that is not my whole heart; that is just a part of my heart.

God promises all these blessings to us if we seek Him with the whole heart. We need to consider this more carefully as we talk of dedicating our lives to Him, committing our way to Him. Our heart relationship will begin, as we have seen, with our hearts going out in love. Our emotions are fully involved. But then we need to use our minds, our reasoning
faculties, and start to count the cost. If we love Him, are we prepared to open our lives to Him? Are we prepared to pay the cost of a whole-heart relationship. If this were faced up to more honestly, there would probably not be so many great crisis decisions or emotional demonstrations. On the other hand, those that were made with the involvement of mind and reason would probably be more lasting and sincere, more effective in their work for the Lord.

But loving the Lord and counting the cost are not a whole heart seeking. There must be the yielding of the will. If God is really going to have all there is of me, then He must have my will. I must be ready and willing for His plan to come into being in my life. Without the giving of my will, the
other two parts become just empty words.

We can see this illustrated perfectly in the various steps taken in the marriage of two who love each other. Of course, they begin with the great love they have for each other. That is wonderful, but loving each other does not make them husband and wife. Having realized their desire for marriage, they then need to make full use of the mind. They count the cost, plan the procedure, and work out all the necessary details connected with the marriage and their plans, for living after the wedding. All this is good and necessary if the future marriage is going to be built on a sound economic structure. But all this exciting planning does not make them husband and wife. It draws them closer, binds them more lovingly, but it is not enough to make them husband and wife.

Sending out invitations becomes even more exciting. Receiving presents marks the beginning of the end, but it still does not make them husband and wife. They can have the most beautiful wedding: the music, the flowers, and the gown! All these are parts of the dream, but they are not
the reality.

There is a part of the ceremony where all voices are hushed. The minister asks the groom certain questions relating to his love and future care for his bride. Then the man replies, “I will.” The minister asks similar questions of the bride, and every one listens to hear her say “I will.”

Then, and only then, comes that great moment when the minister says, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

It wasn’t enough to love each other, or to count the cost and plan correctly—the emotions were there, the mind was there—last of all there had to be the will. Until the will was yielded, there was still time to back out; but once they had yielded their wills to each other, there was then a whole-heart relationship.

This is what we do in marriage, and it is a picture of what we should do in our yielding to God. If we really mean business and want to see our lives grow in vital living power, this is the only way: “when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

All that has been said and written so far in this book, all the promises and opportunities, can really be yours—if you come with a whole heart.

Maybe now you can see why it didn’t work in the past. Would you like to know the living Christ real in your life? Do you want new behavior patterns that become dynamic realities instead of experimental theories? Why don’t you come with your whole heart, end the rebellion, find the fellowship, and walk in newness of life?

PRAYER OF THE WHOLE HEART

Heavenly Father, I come with a humble spirit, with a broken and contrite heart. Forgive me that for so long I have only given You part of my heart.

I can begin to see now why my life is failing. Thank You for showing me this failure, thank You even more for showing the answer to my need.

Loving Father, I come now with all my heart. My love is all for You, Lord Jesus—how precious You are. I have counted the cost, and I realize that to lose Your fellowship and power is too much for me to risk. Regardless of how it works out, I want Your plan for my life.

Last of all, dear Lord, I yield my will. For so long it has been the one barrier to my full life with You. My will has been in rebellion, even though I am a true Christian, because I have kept it for myself. Here and now I say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

Into Your hands, Lord Jesus, I commit my whole self through the yielding of my whole heart.

Because of who You are, I expect nothing but blessing—for that is Your will for me.

Thank You, my blessed Lord Jesus.