The Heart is Deceitful

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

(Jeremiah 17:9)

Meditation

Have you ever wanted something so badly, you convinced yourself it was okay to do anything you had to do to get it? I could tell myself very convincing lies to justify whatever I had to do to get something I wanted. When I wanted something so badly, I would steal to get it, I’d tell myself the ones I was stealing from were rich and wouldn’t miss what I was taking. I would lie to myself and say I would do some good deed later to balance out what I had done wrong. Though, I seldom ever even tried to balance those scales. I usually had some ready-made excuses for why I couldn’t do anything to bring equilibrium to the good vs bad things I would do. Since I didn’t believe there wasn’t any real consequence for my actions if I didn’t get caught, I didn’t see any reason to try to make up for my dishonesty.

My failures at morality and integrity in dealing with people on a daily basis were terrible, however, the worst failure was lying to myself about God. I convinced myself that God was just a creation of weak-minded people who needed a crutch to explain their existence. In other words, man created a supreme being in their own image to explain how they got here. Since I thought I was pretty smart, certainly smarter than those weak-minded people who created God, I didn’t fall for their fairytale. I tried really hard to believe the secular science explanation, it’s the ever-changing Theory of Evolution. There were just too many holes in the theory, so I never could believe it. I didn’t believe in God, so I didn’t believe he created the universe, but I didn’t have any other explanation.

It wasn’t until I became a follower of Christ that I realized how much I had been lying to myself. I discovered a deceitful heart was beating in my chest. I hate the person I was. I know Jesus has forgiven my past, but it’s very hard for me to do. I’m thankful that Jesus took the punishment for my sins. I don’t have to stand at the Judgment Seat and worry I will be found guilty and sent to hell. Jesus bought my pardon with his own blood. He bought everyone’s pardon, but you have to give him your deceitful heart and be given a new one. He will not force you to follow him, but the reward for doing so. That reward will far outweigh any worldly thing you have to give up.

Daily Prayer

Father God, you have so much to teach us about ourselves. We think we know how to be a good person without you, but we deceive ourselves. We always hear people telling us to, trust our hearts, trust our feelings, or trust our guts. However, you know our hearts will deceive us every time we depend on them. Our hearts are selfish and will lead us into folly to get what they want. Lord, search our heart; take from us every deceitful thought and desire. Examine our mind and make our only desire to please you. Give us the passion to unselfishly serve you through loving and serving our fellowman. Keep our thoughts focused on finding ways to help people who don’t know you yet, and in so doing, share the gospel with them. We will always praise you, Lord, whether you reward us while we still walk this Earth, or on the glorious day we join you in heaven. We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen!