Don’t Deceive Yourself

Scripture  Jeremiah 17:9-10 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Proverbs 28:13 - He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Since we as Christians know how to appear to be mature/spiritual to people around us, we sometimes even fool ourselves.  Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the heart (our thoughts, affections, intentions – the real us from within) is deceitful (misleading, phony, fraudulent, indirect, slick, tricky) and desperately wicked – and the Lord knows it for sure.  Psalms 52:2-3 says “The tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.  Thou lovest evil more than good; ad lying rather than to speak righteousness.”  

The heart accuses others of its own problems; tries to see itself in the best possible light; compares itself with others instead of what the word says is right; and sees wrong things as right.  Regretfully, there have been times that I have compared myself to someone that I have perceived as being carnal (to make me feel good about myself) instead of comparing/evaluating myself to what God’s word says my motives or lifestyle should be.  Have you ever done that before?  We have to daily evaluate ourselves in the light of God’s word, and be willing to confess our sins.  Psalms 51:10 says – “ Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”  

Give Me a Clean Heart (chorus/lyrics):
Give me a clean heart,
so I may serve Thee.  
Lord fix my heart,
so that I may be used by Thee.  
For I’m not worthy,
of all these blessings.  
Give me a clean heart,
and I’ll follow Thee.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He even knows our deepest secrets.  Psalms 139:1-2 says “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”  Psalms 44:21 says “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.”  

Prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father:  Help me to evaluate myself daily in the light of Your word.  Help me  to acknowledge, confess, and repent of my sins.  Help me to not fool  myself about the deceitfulness of my heart.  I want to live a life that is pleasing to You. All this I pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

(by Marsha Williams)