Good morning, My Dear Friends,
In 600 B.C. there was a prophet who lived in Israel named Jeremiah. During his lifetime there were different kings in Israel, and they were all terrible. They made one bad decision after another, and it was destroying the kingdom. Jeremiah kept saying, “Guys! God has given us a covenant! If we keep God’s covenant, and make decisions based on God’s promise to us, we’re going to have good outcomes in this kingdom.”
However, the kings kept saying, “No, because, because, because, because.” They had all these excuses and reasons why they couldn’t embrace God’s covenant, and finally the Egyptians came in, and almost destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. Jeremiah threw up his hands in frustration and made this declaration, which is echoed throughout Scripture, and just from our personal experience, most of us know how true this is.
Jeremiah made this extreme statement: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). There is no pill, there is no prayer, there is no seminar, there is no book, there is no conference, there is no song that, at the end of it, your heart is no longer deceitful. Do you know what this means? It means that you can’t trust your heart. I can’t trust my heart. When someone says to you, “Just trust your heart,” you can’t do that — because your heart can convince you of anything and everything.
The Bible says that your heart is incredibly deceitful and there is no cure. There is nothing you can do, or I can do, to change our heart. Can we manage this disease? Yes, you can manage it. Can you cure it? No, it never goes away. I will always have the ability and the propensity to lie to myself, and act on my lies, and defend my lies, defend the excuses — and miss what God wants to do in my life. It’s just always going to be there.
What are the lies you may be hiding behind? As uncomfortable as it is, when you and I are willing to answer that, we are on the verge of being set free. That’s why one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture is found in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed.” How? “By the renewing of your mind.” That phrase is followed by a huge word: “Then.” “Then, and only then, will you be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, perfect, and pleasing will.”
As you begin this process of renovating your mind, that’s when God will give you the ability to test and approve what God’s will is for your life.
You’re on the verge of being set free,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
