Great is your love toward me (Psalm 86:13).
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your
truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise
you, O God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is
your love toward me (NIV 1984,
vv. 11-13).
The Apostle Paul reminds us that it is God’s kindness that
leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). John writes: We love because he first
loved us (1 John 4:19). Nothing
but love will produce lasting change in the heart. Cash payments won’t do it.
Keeping a list of rules and regulations won’t do it. Threats of eternal
damnation won’t do it.
The psalmist asks God to teach him his way that he might
walk in obedience – not out of obligation, not from hope of reward, and not out
of fear – but out of the dawning realization of God’s love for him. Give me
an undivided heart that I may fear your name. Translation: Give me
perfect love for you that I may give you the respect and obedience your name
deserves. Why? Because great is your love for me.
Only love begets love. And we don’t initiate it; God does. God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us (Romans 5:8).
What wondrous love is this!
TODAY’S MEDITATION
How have you experienced
God’s wondrous love this week?
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