The story has been often told of the North American indigenous chief who sought to obtain salvation by offering first his blanket and then his gun to God. He was told that gifts like these would not purchase the divine favor, but that if he wanted to be saved, he must give his heart to God.
Now this sounds very right and good, but the writer has met with persons who have been driven into doubt and legality by the use of this very phrase. Awakened to a sense of their sinfulness and impressed with the importance of being right with God, they kneel down and earnestly seek to dedicate their hearts to Him. With a sense of relief in having made the “surrender,” they rise from their knees determined to live a holier life in the future.
Before very long, however, they find by bitter experience that their hearts are just as bad as ever and that the old sinful thoughts come crowding into their minds again with overwhelming force.
Perhaps they think that the surrender has not been wholehearted enough, so with greater earnestness than before, they try to “give their hearts to God” and beseech Him to take them and keep them. But with what result? Alas! after the first impression of relief and expectation has passed away, they have again to acknowledge their lack of success, and they soon conclude that it is no use trying anymore. So they sink down into a hard, indifferent state of soul and perhaps turn to the attractions of the world, hoping to deaden their feelings of disappointment by flinging themselves into the whirl of its pleasures.
To Gain Favor
To speak of giving one’s heart to God in order to gain His favor is a great mistake and arises from three causes: (1) a wrong estimate of your own heart; (2) a wrong use of Scripture; (3) a wrong idea of the gospel.
Observe carefully how the natural heart is described in the following passages of Scripture:
“Out of the HEART proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:1919For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (Matthew 15:19)).
These three scriptures are very clear and to the point: They need no interpretation. Beyond all doubt, they teach that the human heart — yours and mine — is naturally full of deceit, incurably wicked, and the source of every kind of evil, not merely sometimes, but “continually.”
With this description before me, am I to bring as a present to the holy God a thing which He Himself declares to be desperate in wickedness and surpassing all things in deceit? Will that induce Him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, to look with favor upon me? Surely such a present, instead of purchasing God’s good will, could only call forth His holy condemnation and wrath.
“Give Me Thine Heart”
“But does not the Bible itself say, ‘Give Me thine heart’?” asks one. You refer to Proverbs 23:2626My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:26), but have you ever noticed the two significant words with which that verse opens? “My Son,” it says, “give Me thine heart.” These two words, “My son,” show that the one addressed stands in a known relationship to the one who speaks. But are you indeed His child? And is He indeed your Father? It is not everyone that can say “Yes” to this question, for the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they alone, can claim to be God’s children. (See John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12); Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26).) If you, as a guilty sinner, have trusted in the Savior and have received from His blessed hands the forgiveness of your sins, you are indeed a child of God. In that case, to you the exhortation, “Give Me thine heart,” applies with full force. You are now no longer your own, but His, and constrained by His love, it will be your greatest joy to hold all that you have at His disposal — in other words, to give Him your heart. And He is worthy!
But until you can say that you have been saved by His love and power from the worst of fates, you have no right to arrogate to yourself family privileges until you belong to the family circle. Passages of Scripture such as, “Give Me thine heart” and “Yield yourselves unto God” refer only to real believers. To apply them to any others is to make a wrong use of them and to sow the seeds of a sad harvest of disappointment and despair.
But the misuse of such passages is generally the outcome of an imperfect acquaintance with the gospel. People are not sufficiently careful to learn for themselves from God’s own Book what God’s own way is of blessing sinners.
The Gospel Gives
There are two important points in connection with the glad tidings. First of all, God is revealed in the gospel as a giving God. He did not always appear before men in this character. On Mount Sinai He spoke as a demanding God, and it was this that He claimed. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matt. 22:37-3837Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37‑38)).
But alas! among the thousands of mankind, not one was to be found who loved Him with all his heart. If then salvation could be obtained only in this way, not a single sinner would ever have been saved. The day of demanding, however, came to an end, and the day of giving has taken its place. The law says, Thou shalt love God; the gospel says, God loves you. The law claimed love and obedience from man and cursed him because he did not produce it. The gospel takes for granted that man is unable to meet any just claim, and therefore demands nothing, but brings every blessing with it. God is now revealed as the great and good Giver.
God’s Gift
If it be asked, What has brought about this great change? the answer is soon given. Besides being a God of unimpeachable righteousness, He is a God of infinite love. He saw that unless His wisdom devised a plan and unless His heart made a sacrifice, He could never address men in terms of grace and mercy.
So instead of continuing to demand, He gave. And what was the gift? The very best that He could give. He “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” For what purpose? That He might so fully meet the just claims of God that God need make no more demands upon men, but that He might freely give all that was in His heart to give. The curse was endured by the spotless Victim at Calvary, and the full right was acquired for God to take the place of giver instead of being a demander.
God’s Place as a Giver
“It is more blessed to give than to receive” were the words of the Lord Jesus, and as a result of the God-glorifying work of the cross, God gets the more blessed place, and we have only to take the place of thankful receivers.
“I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Rev. 21:66And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)). This is the wonderful message that now rings down from heaven into this dark world of sin, and as if to emphasize it, and make it of even wider application, the invitation is added: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)). Mark those golden words, “I will give,” and, “Let him take.” Instead of the sinner giving and God taking, it is God who gives and the sinner who takes.
Does not the thought of it make your heart leap with gratitude to the giver of all good? Do you desire to make some response for His grace? Say then like David of old, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits?” And let your answer be like his: “I will take the cup of salvation” (Psa. 116:12-1312What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? 13I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:12‑13)). Nothing could please Him better or be a more acceptable way of showing your gratitude than for you simply to take what He so freely offers. “I will give”; “let him take”; “I will take.” Precious words!
P. Wilson, Christian Truth, Vol. 13 (adapted)