“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.'”
Jeremiah 17:9-10
The King James Bible says it best: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Deceitful above all things? Beyond cure? Desperately wicked? What a humiliating diagnosis for our diseased hearts! But for anyone who has ever connived, finagled, schemed, or plotted, the diagnosis is accurate.
Oh, for an honest heart. A heart that is set against sin and that practices regular self-search to prevent self-deceit. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Since your heart is the wellspring of your life, the Devil will pull out all the stops to prevent you from being honest in heart. He does not mind your behavior being blameless and upright in human eyes as long as your heart remains self-consumed before God. The Devil wants you to be self-conscious. Self-conscious. Self-absorbed. Self-indulgent. Self-pitying. Self-conscious. That’s why “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).
As important as the outward life of justice and neighborly love is, far more important is the inner life of pure-heartedness. If you find yourself in constant conflict with temptations and distractions, take heart: God allows you to be assaulted so that you may be toughened, matured, and anchored in Him more deeply through the experience of fighting back in His strength. – J.I. Packer
Father, a broken heart You will not despise. A contrite heart You will not turn away from. Break my heart with the things that hurt Your heart and give me purity in my innermost being for I desire, with all my heart, to see God.
