your heart is good

Last night I began the all-too-familiar process of scanning my 700 cable channels only to be frustrated that there was nothing good to watch. Don’t get me wrong. There was plenty of evil to watch. I looked at the movie channels and could have had my choice of murder, rape, war, theft…you know the drill. I even could have chosen from several pay-per-view pornagraphic options. Nothing but junk, trash, and filth. Then finally I found a documentary called “The Perfect Solar Storm”-one of those doomsday scenarios-a great way to drift off to sleep huh? I think my TV is sick.

"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? Jer. 17:9

There it is-the prophet has spoken! Something is wrong on the inside of us. There is a sickness in the heart of mankind.

That is a truth that most people can identify with. They see things in themselves that baffle the understanding. They truly do not understand why they do some of the things that they do.

Is this you? Do you find yourself drawn to things from time to time that you know are the wrong things-maybe even evil things? If I am honest, I would admit that I paused for a moment on a couple of those stations and was drawn to watch things I know are wrong. Here is what Paul says about this in Galatians…

“The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict…” Gal. 5:17-18

The good news is that even though there is a conflict, I can win it! How? With an amazing heart transplant that was foretold by another prophet.

"…they will remove all the evil idols and all the hateful images. I will give them a desire to respect me completely, and I will put inside them a new way of thinking. I will take out the stubborn heart of stone from their bodies, and I will give them an obedient heart of flesh. Eze. 11:17-18

This is what I love about the Gospel. We are promised a new heart, a new spirit, a new identity. We truly become new when we trust in Jesus Christ. Now we can live a new life.

“So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Ga. 5:16

God has given us a new and good heart. Let that sink in for a moment. If you have trusted Jesus and been born again-your new heart is good. You can live from this new and fresh love for God. Good things can now proceed from your good heart.

“A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart.” Luke 6:45

“But the good soil represents honest, good-hearted people who hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest.” Luke 6:15

Jesus says that there are those who have good hearts, noble hearts. That somebody is you, if you are His. God has kept His promise. We have been given new hearts. Good hearts! What would happen if you believed this? What if you came to the place that you knew it was true? Your life would never be the same again. Overcoming evil in your life would become the norm.

I believe this truth is mostly lost to the church. No wonder. The evil one would hide it at all costs. He tries to remind us of our past. He seeks for us to be identified by our past. Don’t listen to him. Don’t believe him. Believe God. Live from your new and good heart!

Live a good day today,
Chris