You Do You - The Way of the Human Heart

Soloman, the wisest man that ever lived, said in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

This would indicate that a human’s heart is evil, since it leads to death.  Jesus tells us in John 5:26, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.”  So, God tells us that He alone is life.  Therefore, in the essence in a person’s heart is opposition to God.

It is my observation that this single message is the most rejected message of God.  People seem incapable of believing that there is no good thing within them.

“A 2011 Barna Poll showed that 71% of Americans believe in hell, but less than one half of 1% believe they’re going there. Yet, Jesus said in Matthew 7 that many are going there, and few are going to heaven. The poll also revealed that 54% of Americans believe if they do good works they’ll enter heaven, yet Ephesians 2:8,9 says, ‘We are saved by grace, not by works.’ In addition, only 32% of Americans believe that hell is a place of torment, yet Jesus said, ‘Where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched, where they’ll be cast into outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ He mentioned everlasting fire, everlasting damnation, and everlasting punishment.” (soulchoiceministries.org/gods-heart-vs-mans-heart/)

So, 71% believe in hell, but only 0.5% think they are going there.  Over 50% (54) believe if they do good they’ll get to heaven.  Each of these shows that people believe in their own goodness. 

The truth is that people refuse God and push the truth of their heart condition away, they lie to themselves.  People know they’re not doing evil by mistake or by default or ignorance.  In their heart of hearts, they know they have made a decision and performed an evil action.  They know they have made a conscious decision.  They go to great lengths to confuse themselves that the decisions they make, because it’s what they want, is what is best for others.  (Even worse, it seems that now it is more prevalent for someone to just say it was best for themselves.  Pain to others is remarkably unimportant.)  In this way they can pretend that they are good.  It should be no surprise to us then when we go to a jail and ask around, we find that no one is guilty.  People have to spread their innocence to everyone around them in order to gain support for their actions and turn their evil into a good work, otherwise they have to face the fact that their heart is evil.  It is a rare person that can face their own evil and consciously repent, then admit their evil to others as evil. 

Today, the current saying is "you do you".  Supposedly, this is about individualism, but ultimately it is selfishness in its core and advocates not taking responsibility for anything except doing what you want to do for yourself.  I hate to bear bad news, but everything we do for ourselves borne from our heart is evil and we are responsible for it.  We have completely lost teaching the ability to take responsibility for our actions.  It’s never anyone’s fault, it’s always someone else’s fault.  If only someone hadn’t done this or that back then.  If only someone wasn’t green, red, purple, yellow, or an outie or an innie, then they wouldn’t have done it. #metoo is the thought in today's society.  Metoo, I've been hurt too and someone else is too blame.  Well, welcome to the party pal.  It's called being born.  Everyone has been hurt because we all live around people and people have evil hearts.  Society is confused because it will not accept that people are evil without God.

We have also lost teaching how to be accountable to others for our actions.  This is the primary failure of the church.  Most churches teach forgiveness and to love everyone to excess.  But it would be more valuable to teach accountability, repentance, and then forgiveness and compassion.  Jesus said (Jn 15:13) “Greater love has no on than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  The tragic missed truth is confession.  While we want to glorify this as a sacrifice of life for another, the closer reality is confession of who we are to one another.  We sacrifice our innermost evil secrets to one another and they bear it with us.  They hold us accountable to maintain a repentive heart and to not act on that evil in our heart.  It is a great love to set aside our life and bear the burden of our friends.  But it is hard to find friends who will invite such a friendship and truth in love.

Accept it that your heart is evil without God.  Pray for God today to be in your heart, His Spirit with your Spirit, and His mind over your mind.  Only there does life truly exist.