Graduates: My Son, My Daughter, Give Me Thine Heart!
Graduation: A time for reflection
The future! How very important this word is for every human being. Thinking about the future can arouse within us various emotions, such as anxiety, fear, joyful anticipation, indifference, etc. When we are young, however, we are normally very future-oriented and view it positively. We look forward to adulthood, marriage, a family, building a successful career, etc. It is especially when we graduate that the future is foremost on our minds, as graduation, and the diploma that comes with it, are symbolic stepping-stones to a higher level of education or the beginning of a career.
As natural as it is, however, for those of you who graduate this month to think of the challenges which are before you, I believe that it is just as important at this time to reflect upon the past, to reflect upon the years you have spent in the classrooms of our Christian schools, to ask what you have gained from the Scripture-oriented education which you have received. What is the ultimate benefit of having received a Christian education? Is it academic excellence, a clear understanding of Biblical values, a Biblical perspective on life, a fundamental knowledge of the histories and doctrines of Scripture? I certainly hope that you have gained all this, but it is nevertheless possible that with all that you have gained from receiving a Christian education you may have gained nothing substantial.
Has your daily interaction with the precious Word of God brought you to the feet of Jesus Christ, who is the sum and substance of God’s Word, and the great and only focal point of all true education?
The question I must ultimately ask you at this important time in your life is, “Have you found the Christ of Christian education?” Has your daily interaction with the precious Word of God brought you to the feet of Jesus Christ, who is the sum and substance of God’s Word, and the great and only focal point of all true education? In other words, has your heart been conquered by Him, does your heart belong to Him? For the bottom line of all the instruction you have received from the Word of God since you were a toddler is stated so profoundly in Proverbs 23:26, “My son (my daughter), give Me thine heart!”
God’s rightful claim upon your life
The reason why God our Creator gives His Word to us His creatures, the reason why He has also surrounded you with His precious testimony is, that also you might give your heart to your Maker. That is the ultimate purpose for which you and I were created, namely, to exist in intimate spiritual union with our Creator, and to live a life utterly devoted and dedicated to Him and the glory of His attributes. How clearly this is expressed in Deuteronomy 6:5, words later repeated by Christ Himself, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
The word “heart” is used nearly one thousand times in Scripture, and with very few exceptions, always refers to the totality of man’s inner nature, his intellect, his will, and his emotions. In other words, it refers to the spiritual dimension of our existence. God created Adam to serve Him with his whole heart, and therefore, God as Creator still has a right to demand from us that we serve Him with the totality of our human existence. The fact that we are deeply fallen creatures, who are utterly devoted to ourselves with the totality of our existence, does not change this one bit! God has a right to your and my heart. This was visibly demonstrated already when you were baptized. There God declared that as Creator He has a holy claim upon your life, a claim which was confirmed by being baptized in His triune Name which is engraven invisibly upon your forehead. This is the deepest reason why God in His providence caused you to be educated on the basis of His Word, in order that your life, upon which God has a holy and rightful claim, may indeed be utterly devoted to Him.
God’s gracious invitation
It is most remarkable, however, that in Proverbs 23:26 God does not express this holy claim by means of a demand, but by means of a loving invitation! This is all the more remarkable since by nature there is no one who has any desire whatsoever to give his heart to God. As sinners we foolishly give our hearts to Satan, sin, and the world. How incomprehensible that the God whom we hold in contempt by nature from whom we wickedly withhold our hearts, nevertheless condescends to graciously invite us to give our hearts to Him. My dear young friend, your close interaction with God’s Word also in this past school year means that God has continuously extended that invitation to you, “My son, my daughter, give Me your heart!” God does not merely ask for your talents, or your time, or compliance with His moral law. He asks for more; He asks for the totality of your human existence!
How amazing that the God we so deeply offend with our sins, and who knows the wickedness of our hearts, nevertheless asks for such hearts. How can a holy God extend such an invitation to sinful rebels? There is only one answer: only in Christ! In Christ God can reveal His heart to sinners, a heart which beats with unfathomable love, and in Him God desires the hearts also of young men and women. This is why our schools are specifically called Christian schools, for the deepest purpose of the education you have received there is that you might know Christ. For in Him only you can be reconciled to God, and in Him only can God extend this gracious invitation to you to give your heart to Him.
May I ask you, to whom does your heart belong? Does your heart, in spite of the Christian education you have received, still belong to Satan and his domain, the world? Or can you truly say, “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that my heart yearns after Thee as a hart yearns after the waterbrooks?” Is the fruit of your Christian education that the confession of the totality of your human existence is, “Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, with my whole heart have I sought Thee” (Ps. 119:10)? There is nothing more blessed than, by grace, to give our hearts to Him. But if you have never given your heart to your Maker, and have no desire to do so whatsoever, then I may tell you that the same God who sincerely invites you to give your heart to Him also makes sinners willing in the day of His power to give their hearts to Him. Ask Him to take away your stony heart and to give you a heart of flesh. Then alone will all that your graduation stands for have true meaning, “For whoso findeth Me (Christ), findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD” (Prov. 8:35).
Therefore, my son, my daughter, seek grace to give Him your heart!
In Christ God can reveal His heart to sinners, a heart which beats with unfathomable love, and in Him God desires the hearts also of young men and women.
Battel Elshout is laboring as evangelist-elder in the Denver, Colorado area on behalf of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations.
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Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 juni 1987
The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's
Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 juni 1987
The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's