Seek TruthShembull

My truth? Maybe not . . .

I have a love/hate relationship with my heart. I love it because, by God’s grace, it has a lot of Scripture stored up in it. After years of church services, home devotions, and sermon podcasts, you can squeeze my heart and Bible will come beating out of it. The Holy Spirit has helped me treasure up God’s Word and ponder it in my heart.

But I also hate my heart. Despite the services and sermons, I have noticed when my heart feels cornered or criticized, it suffers from scriptural amnesia. It forgets everything good and true and of God. Instead, my heart goes into defensive mode, proudly pumping words toward my lips and producing detailed spreadsheets of all the things I do right and all the things my critics do wrong. That sin is part of my nature.

You too? The apostle Paul knew why following your heart or being true to yourself wouldn’t lead you to the God-honest truth. He wrote, “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:17,18). Notice the source of the problem—in them.”

The humbling reality is that our hearts cannot be completely trusted. So listen to your heart, but never let it get the final vote. Always bring it back to the Word, the only certain source of truth.