What is the condition of your heart?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The LORD detests men of perverse heart
but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.
(Proverbs 11:20 (NIV))

Have we become a people of perverse hearts? Do we accept what the world calls okay even though God’s Word tells us that it is not okay? Do we have a desire to intentionally disobey God’s Word? How can we truly call ourselves part of the Body of Christ when we do not do what He tells us to do? Basically, how can we ignore the fact that we are not obeying His command to go and sin no more as He told the woman caught in adultery?

When we have perverse hearts, we think that we can do whatever we want. We think that God will overlook what we do. Sadly, many in today’s church and in the non-believing world think this is how God works. Proverbs 11:20 tells us differently.

But wait!

Didn’t Jesus come to forgive our sins?

Jesus did come to offer us grace and mercy. The key word is offer. We have to accept that offer and accept the terms that go with that offer. We are to repent. Just like what Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, we are to go and sin no more. He did not tell us that to get salvation we turn to Him and beg for forgiveness and then keep on deliberately sinning. Too many people falsely believe that believing in Jesus will earn them salvation no matter what they do from that point on. Jesus told us that He would tell these type of people to get away from Him because He never knew them.

With so many passages telling us that we are to turn away from our sin, how can anyone honestly believe that Jesus condones a perverse heart? How can we believe that people who simply give lip service to Jesus will actually see the salvation and grace that they think they will get?

Jesus did not come into this world, live as one of us, teach us, and die on the cross so that we can continue in our sin. We have to have a change of heart. We have to accept all conditions of the offer of grace.

What is the condition of your heart?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you been convicted enough to change?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV))

It is impossible for the wicked to be a part of God’s kingdom, “and that is what some of you were.”

God does not wish that any should perish! How can this be?

Once we have accepted God’s grace through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, He works within us to change us to His image. For the things that do not fit His image, He cleans up and replaces with His righteousness.

The people, and some so-called church members, who are saying that some specific sins are okay are misreading what God has said within this passage. We are to hate the sin, but love the sinner. We are not to accept the sin. That would be a sin in and of itself.

In the scripture, it states “that is what some of you WERE.” The people who are pushing acceptance are not willing to embrace all of God’s Truths. They are not willing to change. They are doing all that they can to change this to read “that is what some of you ARE.” They want to be able to tell God that their sin is acceptable, even though God has clearly stated that no sin is acceptable. They cannot stand up to the conviction and repentance that God requires of us.

Let’s face the truth. Conviction is not comfortable!

Do you accept all of God’s Word, or only the parts that don’t convict you?

Have you been convicted enough to change?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you allowed yourself to be changed?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
(Romans 1:28 (NIV))

Take a good look at society today and tell me what you see!

Everywhere you turn, everywhere you look, you see things that can only come from a depraved mind. You see more and more of the depravity that you thought you would never see in your lifetime.

Now, I am going to turn this around on each of us and remind each of us about the things that we used to do before we encountered Jesus.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
(Romans 1:29-31 (NIV))

Have you ever been greedy? Have you ever been envious? Have you ever been a gossip, or arrogant? Have you ever disobeyed your parents when you were younger? Have you ever done or said anything with a heartless attitude?

What makes us, as the Body of Christ, any different from those who are doing sinful things today? Did we have people sharing Jesus with us when we were unsaved? Did we have people praying us into the Kingdom? Did Jesus ever look at any of us and proclaim that we were too far gone and that He didn’t want to waste His time trying to bring us unto Himself?

I realize that the depravity has gotten much worse in the last years, but I want you to consider that the grace has always been enough to cover a multitude of sins. Prayer can work miracles in the world and in the lives of individuals lost in sin. When we see the depravity, we must remember that they are loved by God. We must remember the old saying, “But for the grace of God, there go I.”

Those who profess a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are only the sinners that have accepted the message of salvation. We are not worthy of deciding who should hear the message and who we should pray to receive salvation.

God can change a mind and He can change a heart!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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