“The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah
17:9 [NKJV]
Summarize in a Word: Heart Diagnosis
Principle: God knows us through and through
Application: Surrender yourself to God
Main point of the Passage: We desperately need a new heart to live an
obedient life
Exhortation: Always find sufficiency and satisfaction in
God.
I bumped
into a group of youngsters smoking secretly. One of them reacted, “I know what
is good and what is bad for me. Don’t even try to teach me.” The world likes to
be free from any authority and live any lifestyle.
Most
people believe they are good, and even claim that the basic nature of man is
good, yet spend no time in proving it even once. The biblical term “heart”
refers to our inner nature and its functions – thoughts, emotions, and wills.
It is the faculty that we plan, remember, and determine to do anything.
Scripture diagnoses the nature of the heart as deceitful,
deceitful than anything else. We are corrupt, cunning and wicked. It means we
tend to believe, like, and love the very opposites we should not. We deceived not
only ourselves but also we try to deceive others and even God.
The
heart is not only deceitful but it is desperately sick. It has
the idea of beyond curable, irreparable. It is doomed. It always will be
deceitful. We cannot improve ourselves. We will continue to choose our own way
justifying ourselves and fooling others. What happens when we go on our ways?
It is cursed, and of no prospect (Jer. 17.5-6). Moreover, God is going to judge
everything accordingly (v10).
So, how does
one live a righteous life? One must have a new heart. The Holy Spirit gives a
new heart when one surrenders to Christ. Prophet Jeremiah is calling his
hearers to turn away from their sinful ways, and to stop putting their hope on the
schemes of man. Always find sufficiency and satisfaction in God.
Thanks
for the time of Reflection,
R.
Solomon