Heart of the Matter

In the bible God makes 3 statements concerning the heart of man. 

1. God says the heart of man is evil

Genesis 8:21

immoral, wicked, evil mischievious, severe, injurious and hurtful

2. God says the heart of man is deceitful

jeremiah 17:9

uneven, crooked, polluted

3. God says the heart of man is sick

jeremiah 17:9 

 In Mark 7 Jesus list the symptoms of a sick heart, and begins to spell them out for us. These past few months the Lord has really been dealing with me in this particular area of my life. Especially those of us who have gone through some stuff in life. Being hurt or rejected, sin that goes unchecked eventually can show up later and the damage be far greater if not dealt with properly. 

 In Luke 13 Jesus shares the parable of the fig tree. The problem is there is no fruit and it is taking up space, and the owner is not too happy with it. But the groundskeeper comes along and intervenes. Saying hold on let me dig around it, fertilize it and perhaps it will grow.

The idea the groundskeeper has is to get to the root of the problem and figure out why this thing is not growing. Why did it all of a sudden stop producing? Sometimes God wants to dig around our hearts and get to the root of the problem shedding some light on our hearts with his word. 

This process does not always feel good! Sometimes he brings in other people to dig around in our lives and expose what we have hid so well for so long. Recently I went through this with a dear friend of mine and it did not feel good at all! In fact I got a little angry with him. But the anger was an indicator that there was a problem. 

Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to watch over our hearts. Sadly many of us do not take such care with our hearts as we do the material things we have. Perhaps there has been a halt in your life or a stand still. Not prospering like you use to. No longer interested in spiritual matters like you use to. 

 Maybe it's time to check those statements God made, and see if any of them reflect the condition of your heart. Remember he said the heart is deceitful. Some deceitful statements made sound like this "God knows my heart," "God knows I struggle in this area," "What was I suppose to do, I was weak and beside God knew I was going to sin,"

 Man we hold onto these excuses and put more faith in them than we do his word which is able to set us free. 

 Think for a minute. How long have you been struggling with that particular thing? How long has God known your heart concerning that matter? How long will you continue to be weak in that certain area? 

 Ask God today to show you your true heart. God is looking for true worshippers, not people full of excuses and cliche' sayings. Get alone with Him and let Him work in you.