Rules and Regulations

We live in a society of rules. There are laws that we live by. Without them it would be chaos, and anarchy. Any society that values freedom must also value law. Though it is often viewed negatively, we are blessed to have a society that protects its citizens through a system of law (Deuteronomy 4:8; Psalm 94:12; Proverbs 29:18).
The Ten Commandments were given to a nation as part of a covenant blessed by God (Exodus 20:1-17). The law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai was part of that blessing. It set in stone an outline of relationship between God and others. How God expects us to relate to Him, and how we are to relate to others is the subject of the Ten Commandments. Rules and regulations have corresponding rights and responsibilities.The rule not to steal corresponds to the right of ownership. Not to lie carries the responsibility and right of truth telling.
Many view law as a negative thing. It is God’s way of cramping our style, raining on our parade, and generally ruining any chance for fun we might have. Rightly viewed however, it is a blessing provided out of love and a desire to protect us. The laws of God are meant to enhance our life experience, not hinder free expression. Every “Thou Shalt Not” carries blessing. Every society that follows the principles of the Ten Commandments find order, safety, and security. Alternatively, a nation without law is a nation in distress.
The Ten Commandments give us rules not only to tell us how to live with one another, they tell us how to live in relationship with God. God commands us to worship Him alone (Exodus 20:3) because he knows that worship of any other thing degrades us. He commands us to revere His name (Exodus 20:7) because He knows that failure to hallow the name of God is symptomatic of people void of the sense of the truly sacred. The command to keep a day of rest (Exodus 20:8) is given as a blessing to us, for apart from rest and worship we unravel (Isaiah 58:13-14).
When asked what was the greatest law, Jesus summed up the whole of God’s rules and regulations with two commands. Love God, and Love your fellow man (Matthew 22:36-40). The two are interrelated. If we fail to love our brother, we really do not love God (1 John 3:10, 4:20-21). The whole of the law is applied in its many parts under the grand heading of Love. Love and law go hand in hand. It was God’s love that gave us the law. Our expression of love to God and neighbor is seen in how we keep the particulars of the law (Romans 13:10).

Wholehearted

When we think whole-hearted commitment we think of someone who is all in. There is no pulling back. Someone who is half-hearted is not really committed at all. How does this apply to Christianity? Can you have a halfhearted Christian? The very idea makes Jesus sick (Revelation 3:16). The Israelites found out that there is a price to pay for half-heartedness (Numbers 32:11). It really comes down to faith (Isaiah 7:9). Without faith, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus indicated that it would take wholehearted devotion to be His disciple (Mark 8:35; Luke 9:23) The Apostle Paul was willing to lay down his life for Jesus (Acts 21:10-14). Likewise, we are called to live sacrificial lives (Romans 12:1-2).  The catalog of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 is a veritable who’s who of people who lived out their faith in wholehearted commitment. Like them, we are challenged to look to the one who is the author of our faith and follow the path of perseverance (Hebrews 12:1-3). By contrast, halfhearted people are not worthy to follow Christ (Matthew 10:38; Luke 9:62; cf. Zephaniah 1:6). It is the commitment that pushes through to the end that gives us a share in Christ (Hebrews 3:14). In fact, the ones who starts well and then falls back is worse off than when they started (2 Peter 2:20).

People do not start out in the Christian life with the goal of being halfhearted.  If they were apathetic to begin with they would not even bother to start. So what makes people go from new life and spiritual enthusiasm to complacency and decline? One thing that leads to complacency is a shallow view of God’s Word. We begin to look at the Word of God as a literary work much like poetry, and we attend a prophetic utterance much like a literary critic. We admire the beauty of the form, but miss the sense of power that should come with its delivery (Ezekiel 33:31-32). Materialism can also dampen our ardor for God (Hosea 13:6; Mark 4:19). Eternal values give way to temporal desire and we end up giving our soul away for a little bit of nothing (Mark 8:35-37; Luke 21:34; Hebrews 12:16-17). Because our hearts are so easily captivated by other things we must take care to guard them (Proverbs 4:23; 1 Timothy 6:10). Me must put all other loves out of the running and love Jesus alone. Otherwise, it is curtains for us. We can not serve two masters (Luke 16:13). Perhaps that is why Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with our whole heart (Matt. 22:37). It is wholehearted devotion God wants. There really is no such thing as a halfhearted Christian. That would be a contradiction in terms.