ESOCS Devotional 29 November 2022
TEXT: JEREMIAH 17:5-14
MEMORY VERSE: “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 everyman according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing.” Jeremiah 17:9 & 10
0 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted lace ”
There is a great assignment here for us all: to supervise our hearts so that it would not be ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.’ We can do this by controlling our hearts and forcing it to love and store up only the good things we approve. In other words, we should be in total control and compel it to do only the things that are right. It would take our will-power to make it subject to our own authority. Paul knew the deceitful nature of the human heart and refused to allow it dominate him or dictate to him how to live his life. He fought his heart to a standstill and brought it under his firm control. That was when he began to do the right things and do them rightly too. He said, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1Cor. 9:27).
We have the liberty to decide what we want. However, it is left to us to make the decisions that would not bring us evil rewards in the end. Whatever we do today would be produce the harvest we would reap tomorrow. There are no two ways about it. Everything we do now is like a seed we sow into the ground; and it would germinate and grow. There is always a harvest in the future. The Bible says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Let us sow a good seed now so that we would reap good harvest tomorrow.
God who knows everything about us has revealed to us that our hearts are “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” We should invite our Lord Jesus into a partnership in the business of cleansing our hearts. He knows what to do to make us clean; and He has the power to do it for us. We cannot do it by ourselves. He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.” The first step to cleansing our hearts is to truly accept Jesus as our Lord and personal Saviour. The second is to truly abide in Him; in other words, live in Him and for Him. These two steps require one thing, and that is the only way to cleansing our hearts: to obey Him in all things. There is no other way! The psalmist says, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word” (Psalm 119:9).
We have to weigh the things we do and check them against the word of God. We need to be very meticulous about it and ensure that we conform to what the word of God says. This would help us keep our hearts in check always and ensure that we regulate our lives according to the written word of God. This is what would make us become the true Christians whose hearts are not ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.’
CHALLENGES
- Examine your heart and find out the kind of heart you have.
- What kind of things do you store up in your heart.
PRAYERS: Pray that God may grant you a broken and a contrite heart.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
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ESOCS Devotional 29 November 2022
