I have been working on the handouts for the Romans study that I am doing with my kids at church. We are currently in Romans 10… as I was reading these verse and cross-referencing and looking up the original Greek I ended up in Deuteronomy.
…if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.
For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.
But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish.
(Deuteronomy 30:10-18)
What we can so clearly see in cross referencing Romans 10 and Deuteronomy 30 is that God has always asked for our heart… and He has always done all that is needed for us to give it.
He never asks more of us than we have the ability to give… because He never asks of us what He has not already accomplished for us. The beautiful thing is that we are justified and counted righteousness not for what we succeed in doing, but just simply what we step out in faith attempting.
Walking in His ways doesn’t mean we will always get it right… it just simply means our heart is turned toward Him.
Keeping His commandments doesn’t mean we will never break them… it just simply means our heart’s desire is to keep them and obey them and we know it and recognize it and acknowledge it when we don’t and when we find we can’t.
Turning our hearts toward Him is living a life or repentance not a life of perfection, but a life that is being perfected.
Turning our hearts toward Him causes us to take His Word as our very life… because it is.
In the study guide for the kids I asked:
Now think about it… who came to who? Did God come for you? Did He bring His Word and His salvation to you? How far do you have to go to be saved? What do you have to do?
How amazing is it that God made His gift of salvation so easy that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are at… anyone who believes can be saved. God brings His Word to us. Take a moment and just close your eyes and think about the Scripture verses that you have in your heart. Say one of them now. It doesn’t matter which one. Just say one.
See, God’s word is near you… in your mouth and in your heart.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:8-10
As the heart turns the mouth follows…