Thoughts for another day

Nov. 16, 2012.

Today's verse: Jer.  17:9. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Man is a complex being and of all creatures God created, he has been most difficult to understand and even more hard to predict.  But there's one thing you can predict about man (and that to our shame) which is, no matter what, he will soon start creating trouble.  Do you not see this day in and day out when out of the blues, your neighbor or your colleague, with whom you were always on good terms, starts fighting with you?

Our Scripture says, 'the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure and none can understand it', for the guile in man is so well disguised that I wonder whether he himself understands it and by the time he realizes the evil within him, it's far too late to redeem. There're so many sins we commit, little realising their impact on our lives and over a period of time, those sins come so naturally to us that we can commit them without batting an eyelid.  Jesus said, Mt. 15:18, 'But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’  We're so full of filth and error and sadly many of us don't want to acknowledge it, nor want it to be said of us.  I recall when I preached and called ourselves sinners, there were some who took objection to it saying, 'brother, not all of us are sinners!'  But remember, without acknowledging it, there can be no cure.

So how can we change our deplorable states?  It's possible only by the Grace of God.  Jesus came so that He could give us a new heart and remove the stony hearts from us giving us hearts of flesh; which would recognize God and God alone as our Redeemer from sin for without God's Grace, it is impossible to not sin; as sin is so deep within us, it even prompted St Paul who was so zealous for God, to say, 'I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do' Ro. 7:15. No matter how strong the stranglehold of sin, God is able to cut its sinister grip on us and heal us from its malevolent effects.  And even if you see your life miserable, sinning and sinning, don't lose hope; only trust in what God says in His Word, Philip. 1:6, 'that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.'  He will do it for you.