Where Is Your Heart Leading You?
by Steve Ham, AiG-U.S.
Today’s big question: where is your
heart leading you?
“Home is where the heart is.” Most
people have heard this saying. What we desire most is where we feel most
comfortable. While this statement is often used as a sentiment, it can also be
dangerous.
If we want to get a sense of where
our heart is likely to lead us, we should consider the biblical explanation of
the human heart. The Bible states that prior to the Flood of Noah’s day, God
“saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis
6:4). The Lord severely judged humanity by flooding the entire
earth.
In His infinite mercy, the Lord spared eight people from
destruction who would repopulate the world. These eight people came off the
boat and sacrificed to God. At this stage, God once again described the human
heart. He said that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis
8:21).
Left to our own devices, our heart is unlikely to lead us in
the right direction. This is true even when we think we are doing good because
many of our good deeds are done for selfish reasons. We often do good deeds
because they make us feel good, and we desire to please ourselves. In these
cases, even though we do good deeds, the intent of man’s heart is still evil.
Our passage today stands in direct contrast to man’s general
condition. True purity can only come through faith in Christ because it is only
God’s purity that can transform our hearts. God frees us from our own selfish
motivations and gives us a desire to serve Christ. Through the renewing of our
minds and the transformation of our hearts we long for our true home with the
Lord. The old hymn rightly states that “the things of earth will grow strangely
dim in the light of His glory and grace.”
John Owen once said that we cannot apprehend the glory of
Christ in heaven unless we first see it on earth. Presently we only see the
glory of God as through a glass dimly, but living in Christ Jesus guarantees we
will see His glory in all its brilliance throughout eternity. Until our heart
has been transformed through faith in Jesus Christ, we will never truly see God
and the home found securely with Him.
Today’s big idea: only a heart transformed by Christ can
lead us in purity to see God.
What to pray: ask God to create in you a pure heart so that
you may see the brilliant glory of the Son.
