“Exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” Acts 11:2323Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. (Acts 11:23). Beloved brethren, Is the Lord Himself precious to us? Do we esteem Him as beyond all conception the alone precious One? While we realize and own our feebleness and proneness to be taken up with one or another of the things of the scene through which we are passing, let us seek to have the Lord as the one and alone object of the heart’s affections.
What we need is to have the heart occupied with Himself, Him “who died for us that we henceforth should not live unto ourselves, but unto Him.”
And as we feed upon Him as He is presented to us by the Holy Spirit in the various steps of His path from the manger to the cross, marking His compassion, humility, meekness, and self-denial, treasuring in our hearts the words that He addresses to His own; and beholding the grace and glory of His person, we shall be able to esteem all else as dross; and “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.” Thus we cleave to the Lord.
By having Himself as the one purpose and alone aim of our hearts, this will give tone and character to our walk. And while we walk in the path of faith, we shall be strengthened as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom the heart is set; and there will be such peace and joy as is known only to the heart that thus cleaves to the Lord.
The unbeliever sees no beauty in the Christ of God that he should desire Him. But such is not the case with those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious; and yet, the believer whose heart is set upon the things of this world, practically admits that the unbeliever’s estimate of Christ is correct.
Let us then, “with purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord.” The exhortation is enhanced in value by what God says of Barnabas in the 24th verse:
“He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith.”