(L)Blaise...
Illustration
(L)
Blaise Pascal wrote, "We know the truth, not only be the reason, but by the heart."
Jeremiah was suggesting something of the same thing when he proclaimed that a new covenant was being given by God -- a covenant that was not a set of tablets of the law, but an inner conviction of the heart.
The Christian faith is not ultimately a legislative system, or a set of ethics. It is a relationship of love with a person -- Jesus Christ. Love can be talked about, sung about and written about. In the last analysis, however, it is something that is known in the heart.
"Our hearts," goes the old prayer, "are restless until they find their rest in Thee." We are so created that without God we feel incomplete. There's a kind of divine discontent within us until that time when God does become a part of our being and fills our hearts with his presence.
That is precisely what Jeremiah tells us will happen: God will fill our hearts with his law. Since God's law in its most full expression is nothing less (nor more) than the command to love God and love neighbors, filling our hearts with law is the same as filling them with love. This is the new covenant, and the new covenant has become a reality in Christ.
-- Aber
Blaise Pascal wrote, "We know the truth, not only be the reason, but by the heart."
Jeremiah was suggesting something of the same thing when he proclaimed that a new covenant was being given by God -- a covenant that was not a set of tablets of the law, but an inner conviction of the heart.
The Christian faith is not ultimately a legislative system, or a set of ethics. It is a relationship of love with a person -- Jesus Christ. Love can be talked about, sung about and written about. In the last analysis, however, it is something that is known in the heart.
"Our hearts," goes the old prayer, "are restless until they find their rest in Thee." We are so created that without God we feel incomplete. There's a kind of divine discontent within us until that time when God does become a part of our being and fills our hearts with his presence.
That is precisely what Jeremiah tells us will happen: God will fill our hearts with his law. Since God's law in its most full expression is nothing less (nor more) than the command to love God and love neighbors, filling our hearts with law is the same as filling them with love. This is the new covenant, and the new covenant has become a reality in Christ.
-- Aber
