Jeremiah 17: 5-10
5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land. 7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
It breaks my heart to see what happens in Christianity so often. We read God’s Word and we make a commitment toi follow Him and then we start to dig into His Word in an attempt to follow Him. As we go along, so often we begin to think this is just impossible, could this possibly be what God really meant?
Jesus says “when you Fast” our heart says “that was for another time” a person has to eat.
Jesus says “you should tithe” our heart says “I need that 10%” I will give a few dollars after I have all I want.
Jesus says “there is a place of eternal punishment called hell” our heart says “a loving God would never allow anyone to go to hell”.
Jesus says “if you lust over a person in your heart you are guilty of sexual sin” our heart says “it’s not the same”.
Jesus says “forgive and you will be forgiven” our heart says “but I have been hurt really bad, Jesus didn’t really mean what He said”
Jesus says “if you hate someone you are guilty of murder” our heart says “no way Jesus meant that, that sucker did me wrong and I hate them, I hope they rot in hell, but wait a minute, there is no hell”
We must come to the place where Scripture changes us, changes the way we think, and changes the way we behave. We must come to the place where we stop attempting to change scripture to make it better fit our wicked hearts. Either we trust God or we do not.
I say often “If I had written the Bible, I would have written it different”. The fact is, I didn’t write it and God didn’t ask my opinion about its contents. I am not God but I am one of His children. I want to know who God is and How God operates, and to do that I have to dig into His Word, see what it says and change when needed. Not based on what I feel in my heart but rather on what His Word says.
Ronnie
