The word of God says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Wow! Don’t you feel like you have no hope after reading the above verse? I do.
Looking at my own heart, I sometimes feel so discouraged.
I want to blame someone for it but who? I have no one to blame. Okay, my forefather and mother, Adam and Eve? Maybe. But what do I get from blaming them? Blaming them ain’t going to change my heart.
Sure, my heart is evil and deceitful above all things and it is beyond cure.
Oh, Lord!
I’ve been thinking about this very thing for a month now and I am praying fervently about the indwelling sin that at times gets the best of me. I want to understand it. Sure Jesus died for my sin and He freed me from the bondage of sin. Hallelujah!
But, what about this sin that lurks and creeps into my life without any warning, usually catching me off-guard?
Listen what I read this morning: “He (God) purified their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:9b) – Read the whole chapter so you can have a right context to understand this statement.
God purifies our hearts by faith. Faith, as the Bible tells us, comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).
When we read the word of God, meditate upon it day and night, faith takes over our hearts and faith in turn purifies our deceitful and evil hearts. Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)
Wow! Did you see the connection? Jesus is speaking to them and when they hear, faith takes over their hearts, and the faith that comes by the grace of Jesus Christ purifies their hearts. When we let go of our faith in God and His word and start doubting God and His truth, sin automatically becomes very attractive to us.
Oh, Father, purify my heart. Let faith take my fear-ridden, deceitful and evil heart. Yes, there is what is called “the indwelling sin” in all of us and this indwelling sin doesn’t just sit there being idle. It always seeks opportunity to win over our hearts so it influences our understanding of God and His word. We need to wage war against it on a daily basis. Paul said, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
Yeah, Paul didn’t write this verse in “a past tense” but in a present tense because it is something we need to do always. Do what? Putting to death the indwelling sin!
About the indwelling sin, Paul writes this way, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. – – – What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15-17, 24-25)
If this truth of God doesn’t make you broke into tears as you praise and worship Jesus Christ, I seriously don’t know what will.
The problem with most of us, I think, is this: We wear the name “Christian” and we assume that we are immune from committing sin and letting ourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1). Saying “I am a sinner saved by the grace of God” won’t get us anywhere unless we put the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-18) and go to war to mortify the sin that is waging war against our spirit. May the name of Jesus Christ be praised forever! ///
P. S. If you’re interested to read more about the indwelling sin, I recommend a fantastic book by John Owen, “The Indwelling Sin In Believers” – written in the sixteenth hundreds.