Deceitfully Yours

A friend of mine recently went to the doctor for some tests. He said he felt fine but the doctor wanted him to take a look inside his heart. After it was all over he told me that 90% of one of his arteries was closed and another was completely blocked. He said "I was on deck for a major heart attack." Fortunately the doctors were able to fix it without a bypass or open heart surgery. It reminded me of a verse the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ESV

My friend thought his heart was okay, but it had deceived him. In reality he was indeed desperately sick.

Jeremiah wasn't talking about the physical heart, of course, but our souls - that part of us that is our personality, our needs, wants, and desires - what makes us unique. The prophet says that our own souls deceive us. The heart (pardon the pun) of deception is that you don't know something is wrong. We go along our merry way thinking we are okay with ourselves and our universe.

What we don't realize is that we have been infected with the sin bacteria - given to us at conception - the result of one sinful act long ago in the Garden of Eden. That bacteria spreads and leads us to do other things that are outside of God's character. It separates us from a relationship we desperately need and makes it so that even if we think we are doing the right thing, most often we are not!

So Jeremiah goes on to say:

10 "I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds." ESV

My encouragement to us today is to go to the doctor, The Doctor, and ask for a checkup. The good news is that when this Doctor finds problems in the heart because of our ways, His procedure involves not just unclogging arteries but giving us a brand new heart and a new life.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. ESV

That "heart of flesh" comes from Someone who was not born with the sin bacteria - Jesus Christ. In relying and trusting on Him, the saying of Paul comes true:

2 Cor 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ESV

The doctor will see you now.

Pastor Tom