The Lying Heart and the Carnal Mind

Let’s face it - the bulk of romances today are heavy on sentiment and thin on substance.

I know, from experience, that I may set out fully intending to truly love someone. However, the good that I want to do I end up not doing, and do instead the bad thing I am determined not to do. That is inevitably what happens when a man sets forth in his own power to do good – because fallen human nature only yields bad fruit from the abundance of the heart. One’s own heart lies to one.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Severally I have allowed trust in my "self-inherent goodness" to thrust me forward. It was a grievous error. The problem is, we are imperfect, flawed human beings, more easily disposed to vice than virtue. Left to our own devices, we would ruin ourselves by our own imprudent ways. This unsavory truth of fallen human nature runs counter to the humanistic philosophy prevalent in the world today, which alleges that people are pretty awesome so long as they follow their heart. The movies preach this heady stuff all the day long. But what is the truth?

Psalms 118:8
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

This begs the question: is the believer supposed to distrust his every move, and lack self-esteem or confidence? No, on the contrary, a Christian’s self-esteem and confidence thrive in the certain knowledge that one is doing the will of GOD. To be a child of GOD by faith is, by itself, an inexhaustible supply of self-esteem. There is no higher privilege in our pilgrimage than to be always empowered, instructed and led by the living GOD. Study the lives of the prophets of old and Christ’s apostles; you will find that in the direst straits, they remained steadfast and courageous in the face of scorn, opposition and persecution. They could do so because they did nothing in their own power but only as the spirit of GOD led them.

Zechariah 4:6
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

My own experience has mostly been a warning to others thus far, with good examples hard to find. This blog’s earlier posts are the evidence of what damage was done by a deluded belief in my "inherent goodness". Remember the Bible says that compared to GOD’s righteousness, the goodness of men is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). My much vaunted “goodness,” my belief in my own knight-in-shining-armor narrative resulted in tempestuous relationships, ignominious break-ups, dramatic flings and awkward reunions with exes – so much for that. These are the fruits of a deceitful heart colluding with a carnal mind.

Jeremiah 17:5
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

The issue after a break-up of who is at fault or who is the victim ought never to arise. Ideally, breakups are not supposed to happen. The problem sprouts when, at the very beginning of the relationship, both parties dive in hastily, without first checking what GOD’s will in the whole arrangement is. The eventual inglorious collapse is just but the maturity of this bad tree’s fruits.