"When I want to do good, evil is right there with me"
In continuing the journey of The Pursuit of Holiness on my train journey home from uni this afternoon I was once again challenged.
In speaking of the various ways in which the 'heart' is used in the Scriptures, Jerry Bridges says
"The heart is also deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to entire areas of sin in our lives. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures, or to think that mental assent to the Word of God is the same as obedience (James 1:22)."
He continues by reminding us that we should realize that "indwelling sin works largely through our desires" as "Ever since his fall in the Garden of Eden, man has listened to his desires more than his reason. Desire has come to be the strongest faculty of man's heart."
How often to we listen to our desires over our reasoning? How often do we ignore the struggle we face between the two when we face temptation?
What is even more scary than our ability to be decieved by our hearts and its desires, is that only God alone is beyond this deceit and knows the truth in every single one of our hearts. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
I dont know about you, but i think thats a pretty scary thing - amazing, but scary!
All these words, my friends, are presenting a challenge. One which we need to keep in our minds, and ironically, on our hearts.
I hope these words challenge you the way they challenge me.
And like Tim, I cant help but wonder who actually reads my site either - who it is that may be challenged by these words. So leave a comment sometime and let me know!
In speaking of the various ways in which the 'heart' is used in the Scriptures, Jerry Bridges says
"The heart is also deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to entire areas of sin in our lives. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures, or to think that mental assent to the Word of God is the same as obedience (James 1:22)."
He continues by reminding us that we should realize that "indwelling sin works largely through our desires" as "Ever since his fall in the Garden of Eden, man has listened to his desires more than his reason. Desire has come to be the strongest faculty of man's heart."
How often to we listen to our desires over our reasoning? How often do we ignore the struggle we face between the two when we face temptation?
What is even more scary than our ability to be decieved by our hearts and its desires, is that only God alone is beyond this deceit and knows the truth in every single one of our hearts. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
I dont know about you, but i think thats a pretty scary thing - amazing, but scary!
All these words, my friends, are presenting a challenge. One which we need to keep in our minds, and ironically, on our hearts.
I hope these words challenge you the way they challenge me.
And like Tim, I cant help but wonder who actually reads my site either - who it is that may be challenged by these words. So leave a comment sometime and let me know!
1 Comments:
Hi Chelsea, isn't it a huge challenge, seemingly impossible, and yet God is so good that he makes it possible through him.
I got onto your blog through Tim's hope you don't mind. :o)
Karz
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