Stinky Heart

Romans 3;10-12
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understands, thee is none that seeks after God.
They are all gone out of the way. They are together unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

I think as long as I live, I will never understand the human heart. Day after day, I hear stories from men who tell me of a relationship they had with God. A time when He was very real and very much a part of their lives, yet..........they walked away from this relationship to embrace the darkness of drugs/alcohol.
They had no intention of becoming addicted.
They had no intention of turning their back on God.
It was just suppose to be a short journey to "live a little" as some have put it.
I truly am beginning to catch a glimpse of how sin affects and destroys people.

In fact, I don't have to look far.
I look to my own heart.
I grew up in church. Church was not something I did, it was who I was. Maybe that was the problem! Maybe I looked to church to fulfill a place and role in my life that only God could. At that time, the idea that I would turn my back on God and walk away for a period of time was absurd. I never would do that. But then again, Peter thought he'd never turn his back on Jesus and deny him. Such is the potential for every human heart that ever lived.

Anyway, after Vicki and I were married in 1972, we came to an unspoken agreement that we would take a sabbatical from church. We were working and going to school, not to mention learning how to be married. Time was at a premium and the thought of giving up time on Sunday was a bit much. So we began to stay home. It wasn't like we jumped into a cess-pool of sin, but even in this small, insignificant act we began a downward slide to places we never dreamed we would go.

Our little sabbatical lasted 7 years and almost costs us our marriage. During that time, sin dominated our thinking and our choices. We became hostile to each other. I guess one of the enemies greatest weapons is to divide and conquer, and he almost accomplished this in our family. But God in His eternal love and mercy, saw fit to keep us together and not allow the division to do permanent damage to my family. I saw the extent of the dark potential my own heart possessed. I knew that I needed God more than ever if I wanted to have any life at all. In 1979, my wife and I returned to God.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 reads: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
It is the presence and power of God in me that draws in the sin nature I possess. When I give myself and my life to Jesus for Salvation, He breaks the power (the influence and control) of sin.....He breaks the penalty (for the wages of sin is death) of sin, and He stops the power (to influence my decisions) of sin. Praise God, He doesn't leave me alone to continue my days in my own strength. No! He places His Holy Spirit in me to be a guide and teacher.....a comforter and a friend.....to show me the way to all truth.



We really don't like to admit the true nature of the human heart. We'd rather bask in the glow of human achievement and self-exultation. Let's not talk about the down and dirty of the heart. In a day when society, and sometimes even the church, seek to exalt the human heart....to excuse behavior that has been motivated by sin, God has not changed His view or stance against such foolishness. Sin will never be accepted or tolerated in His Kingdom. Yet, balanced against this view is a heart that longs to restore His creation.............."Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

God on you.....
mb