You’ve heard people say “Just follow your heart.” and very quickly you’ll hear someone quote this scripture: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” from Jeremiah 17:9.
So our heart is deceitful. That’s clear. What’s really deceitful is that verse is quoted and then it’s left there, forgetting what the rest of scripture has to say about the matter, which is really what God is saying about the matter. You give me one part of the equation and not the other? That’s not helpful. God gives the answer to a deceitful heart, he doesn’t leave us in this dreadful condition.
One of my favorite places in scripture is in Jeremiah, AFTER chapter 17 where we find that the heart is deceitful. It’s these verses:
Jeremiah 31:33
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will
be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 32:39-40
39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own
good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting
covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me
in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
And also in Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 36:26-28
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
“A new heart PLUS the Lord’s Spirit in us
REPLACES a deceitful heart. ”
We’re aware that our heart can be deceitful, and we’re often warned about that — not to follow our feelings, not to give in too much to our emotions, not to let our heart determine our actions. But we’re missing a really huge truth here. If we’re in Christ, then the heart has been healed! We love to quote Isaiah “by his wounds we are healed!” but for some reason we leave our heart out of that matter?
Yahweh’s promise to His people is that he would literally:
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put the fear of Him in our hearts
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write His law on our hearts
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give us a new heart, and put His Spirit within us
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cause us to walk in His ways
The next time you’re reminded that your heart is deceitful, reject that and trade that for life and truth in the promise of God’s word to us that He has done the work that we cannot do for ourselves, and receive it as the gift that Jesus made possible by his life, death and resurrection.
The Spirit of God is living inside of us! We’ve been given a new heart! We are His people and He is our God, we are led by Him and kept by Him.
We don’t need to be afraid of deceit in our hearts when He’s done the work to give us a new one from Him, and for Him. Live in freedom my friends. We’re free from the old ways, we’re KAINOS creation.
“We are a new breed, species, creature, and creation that has never existed on earth before Christ’s resurrection.” – Jordan Gresczyk
So follow your heart, God gave it to you.
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source https://www.saltydogspodcast.com/blog/follo-your-heart
Salty Dogs Christian Podcast 