Jeremiah 17
Know my Heart!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 5.
Did you know that when you point your finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at the heart of the problem? We love to project blame onto others, to emotionally insulate ourselves from having to take responsibility for a situation. We do this as children by blaming our siblings or classmates. We do this as adults with even more elaborate schemes, but as we mature, we come to realize that the real problem is found within us. In Mark 7:20-23, Jesus made it very clear that it is not something outside of you that makes you unholy, but a condition of your heart:
That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.
Jesus taught that the heart of the problem is found in the control center of your life, where your emotions and thoughts are derived. He was echoing an ancient truth, made visible through the first couple’s blame game, and clearly proclaimed by God through the prophet in Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”
Seize the moment and invite God to cleanse you from the inside out. Holiness is Christ in you, ruling from the throne of your heart, so invite the Holy Spirit every morning, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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