“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’” (Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV; see also Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 6:7-8)
I sometimes hear other people and some pastors quote verse nine here and apply it to all people, including to Christians, and that always bothers me. Why? Because, as Christians we should have hearts which are now surrendered to God. Our hearts shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately sick (wicked). Now I would agree that our fleshly hearts are like this before we have changed hearts, and prior to the Spirit living within us, but shouldn’t we have changed hearts, renewed of the Spirit of God?
For, we read in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” And we read in Matthew 6:20-21 that we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.. for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. And in Matthew 12:34-35 we read, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
And in Matthew 22:37 we read, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” But how can we do that if we all have deceitful and wicked hearts? And in Luke 8:15 we read, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” So, some people have honest and good hearts.
And in John 7:38 we read, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” And in Acts 2:46 we read about “glad and generous hearts.” And in Acts 4:32 we read, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,” and that was a heart surrendered to God. And in Acts 13:22 we read, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”
And in Acts 15:9 we read, “having cleansed their hearts by faith.” And in Romans 5:5 we read, “because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So, we can, by faith in Jesus, have cleansed and pure hearts. And in Romans 6:17 we read, “have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.” So, we can have obedient hearts to God.
And in Romans 10:1 we read, “My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” And 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In Galatians 4:6 we read, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
And Ephesians 3:17 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” And Ephesians 6:6 says, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” And in Colossians 3:15, “compassionate hearts.” We read in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
And in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” And in 2 Timothy 2:22 we read, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” So, if we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith in him, we can have pure hearts, good and honest hearts, and we can love God with our whole heart.
We can have glad and generous hearts, and hearts which are surrendered to Jesus Christ, and we can be people after God’s own heart, and have cleansed hearts, and hearts filled with the love of God. And we can have obedient hearts and hearts which desire good for others. We can have hearts filled with the light of truth, and Spirit-filled hearts, hearts that are committed to doing the will of God, compassionate hearts, and hearts which are directed to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
So, yes, in our sin nature, we have deceitful and wicked hearts. But once we have been transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and our hearts have been cleansed and made new by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and God is living within our hearts, by faith in him, our hearts shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately wicked. Now they should be pure, honest, good, moral, upright, godly, generous, and hearts filled with the love of God. So if our hearts are still deceitful and desperately wicked, something is wrong!
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.
Behold, they say to me,
‘Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!’
I have not run away from being your shepherd,
nor have I desired the day of sickness.
You know what came out of my lips;
it was before your face.
Be not a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster.” (Jeremiah 17:14-17 ESV)
And we can have broken hearts because of how we are treated by other people, perhaps even by people who claim to love us, and because we are rejected by them, and because they disapprove of how we live our lives for the glory of God and not for self-glory. For if our hearts are surrendered to the Lord to do his will, and if we are following him wherever he leads us in doing what he would have us to do, according to his word, we are going to be opposed, misunderstood, abandoned, and rejected.
And so we may pray to the Lord for him to heal our broken hearts and for the ability to forgive our persecutors and to leave them to God and to not carry the burden in our hearts of how they think of us and how they treat us. For we have no control over what others think about us and about what we do or over what they might say about us or to us. So we are going to come up against those who will treat us with disdain and disrespect and who may even mock us for our walks of obedience to the Lord.
And we may even have to assure ourselves, at times, of what we know to be true about our own hearts and minds and actions when others come against us. And/or we may inquire of the Lord to make certain that we are not doing anything that may injure our testimonies for him just to make sure that our hearts are in the right place and that we are, indeed, in the center of his will, doing whatever it is that he has called us to do. And the Lord will speak to us, and he will instruct us, and he will encourage our hearts and minds.
Broken and Contrite
An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.
Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.
