Incline Your Heart Unto the Lord
Read: Joshua 24:18-28
Joshua
24:23 (Whole
Chapter)
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
Joshua was calling God's people to a renewed
commitment of service
and obedience to the
Lord. They responded
by pledging to serve God
after which Joshua
challenges them to "incline
your heart unto the
LORD God of Israel." Our
hearts must be
inclined toward the Lord, and
it is our
responsibility to do so. If we are alert
and sensitive to our
spiritual condition, we
can sense when our
hearts are being inclined
toward or away from
the Lord. We have a duty,
an obligation,-to
incline our hearts in a Godly
direction. How is it
that we might do this?
Joshua commanded the
people to "put away"'
the strange gods
which are among you..." Be-
fore they would be
able to incline their hearts
toward The Lord, they
would first have to put
away from their lives
the objects of idolatry
that were present.
The same is true for us. Our
hearts need to be
inclined toward the Lord,
not to be drawn
toward other things. What is
it that we have
tolerated in our lives that distracts us from God and
He will? Perhaps it
is leisure activities, or the pursuit of wealth or worldly success.
Maybe it is prideful
resistance to some part of
God's will for your
life. Could it be selfishness about your time and
being unwilling to
surrender your all to the Savior? Until these
these things are
removed, the heart will not be inclined toward the Lord
as it should be. The people then responded by saying' "His
voice
will we obey."
In order to keep our hearts inclined toward the Lord,
we must not only
remove the-things that distract, but also we must
maintain a sincere
commitment to obey the Word of God. If
we
will turn from
besetting sins and love the things of God, our hearts
will be inclined
toward Him.
Pastor Roberl A.
Sorensen,
Bethany Baptist Church, Ava, MO
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Jeremiah 31,32; Titus
2