Yesterday’s post was a bit long. Today we will be more brief. Let’s jump in. Or, knowing that the topics include the conscience, confessing sin, and the corruption of our own hearts, maybe we should ease in …
Verse 1: A guilty conscience causes one to do odd things; a God-honoring conscience builds boldness.
Verse 9: Disobedience disrupts answer to prayer.
Verse 13: Un-confessed sin will bird-dog you, and run you up a tree. Why run from it. Confess it, deal with it, God desires to and is eager to forgive you in Christ.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Remember, confessing our sins to God does not improve or restore our relationship with Him, it restores and renews our fellowship with Him. Our relationship with Him is always secure in Christ.
Verse 23: We are to seek truth and correction from our friends, even when it hurts. Honest correction builds us up. Flattery deceives and derails. Sound familiar from yesterday?
Verse 26: The Bible says that only a fool “trusts” in his own heart! Our culture today prompts us to trust our “heart” or “feelings.” The Bible says, “Heck no! That’s crazy!” Actually, it doesn’t say that. It implies it though. Jeremiah 17:9-10 tells us why we shouldn’t trust our own “hearts.”
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
This verse, and other verses, show us that our sinful hearts will deceive us. We have listen to God’s Word, not ourselves.
This chapter isn’t easy to chew, swallow, or digest. But, it is good for us. It has been said that strong teaching makes soft hearts. Very true …
josephsmotherman.com 