Jun 22, 2020
The Heart is Deceitful
22nd JUNE 2020
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
One popular cliché we often hear some motivational speakers major on is “follow your passion”. This situation has become a conundrum which people in the entire globe grapple with, the assumption underlining this famous phrase is that: it leads to fulfilment and happiness.
“If Passion is a priest then the heart is its temple”: the abode of passion is the heart. Our hearts reflect what we are passionate about. This same heart, the bible says, is “deceitful”. Think about the number of things we thought we were passionate about growing up, how many of them do we still hold on to today?
Adolf Hitler was a passionate person and guess what, he caused the death of approximately six million Jews. Think of people like Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein just to name a few. Juxtapose these people with the likes of Paul of Tarsus, Billy Graham, Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Mother Teresa among others. The difference between these two groups is that while those in the latter surrendered their hearts, their passion, to God and said to Him “Your will be done”, those in the former followed their heart’s desires and passion at the expense of God.
A passion not directed by the Holy Spirit may still achieve “great” things in the sight of men and the world but would ultimately alienate us from God.
There are two sets of people from the previous paragraph: those who submit their passion to the Holy Spirit and say to Him, “Your will be done” and those who follow their heart’s desires and passion without regard for God and to those people He says to them, “your will be done”. As children of God, we must daily seek to be counted among the former.
Dear Father, give us the grace to surrender the desires of our hearts to You so that You can have Your way in our lives.
Prophetic Declaration: Psalms 91
Bible In One Year: Proverbs [17–20]
