By GF Herrin
As saved Christians when we speak of the Human heart, we must take a different approach from the Unsaved World that is all around us. The unrepentant world views the human heart as good since they are separated from God because of their unforgiven sin and have not experienced His perfect Holiness. However, we who have come to saving faith in Jesus, and have come to an understanding of the Righteousness of God, (In contrast to our own unrighteousness) know that the Bible has a different view.
In Jeremiah 17:9-10, Jeremiah writes of God’s perspective of the human heart:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings
In a person’s life, until God’s Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, our hearts are not truly good or clean.
Ezekiel prophesied of such a time when people could have a new heart:
Ezekiel 36:26-27
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
When we come to saving faith, Jesus’ indwelling Spirit gives us a new nature, and a strength to love God and other people.
Psalm 73:26 – “My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Apart from God we can do nothing. But with Him we have a new nature and a heart that longs to please our Lord and delights in Him.
Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
This passage may not be what it seems. On the surface, this passage sounds like God will give you what you long for in your heart, and that may very well be true. However, if you look deeper, it seems as if the passage is also saying that a heart that has been changed by God will be given different and new desires that reflect the new godly nature which it has been given by God. A heart of flesh, (not stone) will desire to have a spouse who loves God, His Word, people, family, and morality. These things reflect the heart of God.
Are you walking today with a changed heart that desires the things of God? Or do you just want fleeting things that you think will make you happy, but in the end will just leave you empty?
Call on Jesus and ask Him to change you and He will today.