But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jer. 31:33.

One of the most striking truths of the Christian faith is that we human beings can have and keep a genuine personal relationship with members of the Godhead. It is called a heart relationship, where divine realities are experienced in the inner man as contrasted with mere surface, external religion; what we are in our entire being as opposed to what we outwardly profess.

The heart Christian is a very impressive person. What we are tells far more than what we say or do. Heart in the Bible refers to our depth dimension, the real person we are inside. The law written on tables of stone is not as impressive as the law written in the whole of our inner being, so that we are basically spiritual, not simply religious; basically honest, pure, unselfish, loving. The Ten Commandments written on the wall of the church may be very attractive. But the Ten Commandments as part of our very being, the kind of obedient Christian we are inside, that is the greatest work of God that can be seen.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph. 3:17), that is, in the inner life where thoughts, desires, motivations, arise, where affections have their beginning. We can never cleanse the water in a well by painting the pump. We cannot change the bareness of the trees in winter by hanging leaves on the branches. We must have a revival of life at the roots. We can never redeem man by external adjustments.

Not the turning of water into wine, not the raising of Lazarus from the dead, are Christ's greatest works. But Mary Magdalene given a new heart and made pure throughout forever, the thieving Zacchaeus made basically honest, the cowardly Peter made to have a heart of courage, the apostle Paul given a new heart of love for Christ as opposed to enmity and opposition. Completely new persons inside and out.

We should seek and pray to reflect the living Christ in the whole of our being. Christ will settle for no less. Why should we?