Singleness of Heart and Action

UV 957/10,000 Singleness of Heart and Action I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children. Jeremiah 32 v 39 Integrity or oneness of heart and action is a divine gift or grace we receive from the Lord. It enables not only our heart, mind and mouth to work in sync but it also enables us to act in sync with the heart of the Lord. Cain desired to also worship God with a sacrifice but there was a lack of alignment between his heart and his actions. He did not give of his best to the Lord. It was Abel’s sense of reverence or respect for God that enabled him to give of his best- a blemishless sacrifice. His heart was blameless before the Lord. When Cain slew him out of sheer jealousy, Abel became the blemishless sacrifice, the foreshadow of the Messiah Himself. It might seem to us from a human perspective that Abel suffered injustice and an unjust death but his martyrdom and every drop of his blood cries out for mercy and grace for every one of us who live in covenant or agreement with God. There may be a million perspectives or views on a million things in life but when we say we are believers, we are saying we agree with what the Word of God’s covenant. Just as day and night come unfailingly due to the covenant with God, the Lord’s goodness to us is unfailing, irrevocable and everlasting. Just as nobody can stop day and night from coming at the appointed hour, nobody can stop the goodness of God from coming to us at the appointed hour. It is when the Lord knows that we respect Him so much that we would abide by every word of His covenant with us then He releases His blessings on us and our generations. When we enter the new covenant relationship with God by believing in the sacrifice of Jesus the blemishless Lamb of God, He gives us a new heart of obedience in place of the old stony heart of rebellions. A new spirit of reverence, wisdom and excellence is poured upon each of us. The enemy of our souls had sown the seed of dissension, doubt and stubbornness by making Adam believe that God did not wish us to be equal with Him and had therefore withheld knowledge from man. But the mind of Christ will now instruct us that God is completely trustworthy and instead of grasping for equality with God, we can submit our whole lives to Him and that would work out for our own good and for the good of our children. We are now awash with the agape love of God. Since we are at peace with God we can live in peace and unity with fellow believers, our brothers and sisters in faith. The blessings or goodness of God are of two kinds: the blessings of increase- the multiplication of our days, the multiplication of our joys, the multiplication of our numbers of people and resources as well as the blessings of intensity. We experience life in both its pain and pleasure, its joys and sorrows with greater intensity. In the fluctuating vicissitudes of life, its ups and downs, we remain consistent in maintaining our integrity or the singleness or alignment of heart, mind, mouth, action and reaction with the Word of God even as a mason would use a plumbline as he builds a wall. Prateep V Philip