“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep doing.” (Rom 7:19, NIV)

It’s a bit of a relief to hear that such a great man of God still struggled with sin.  But too often we just stop there, content to know that this internal struggle is common to everyone.  In fact, there’s more.

In the midst of describing his internal struggle with sin, Paul makes a crucial distinction.  He says:

“As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature…” (Rom 7:17-18, NIV)

“Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it… For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;” (Rom 7:20 & 22, NIV)

Like Paul, our sinful nature – where sin lives and from which sin oozes out – is not the true us.  On the contrary, our true self – our inner being – delights in God’s law (the law of the Spirit of life, as mentioned in Rom 8:2).  And though these two natures are at constant war, it’s the sinful nature that’s the foreigner, the impostor – the one that doesn’t belong.

Of course, this doesn’t absolve us of our sin, or of our need to repent.  But understanding this gives us a clearer picture of who we are as Christians, despite the sin that clings on like dead skin.

Jesus illustrated it in another way when he washed his disciples’ feet (Jn 13:8-10, NIV):

“‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’

Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’

‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’

Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.  And you are clean…’”

What Peter said sounded very humble and holy – “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” – but he missed the point.  He only needed his feet washed.  It’s the same when we become Christians: we are bathed, washed completely.  Sure, we sin and we get dirty, but it’s just our feet that need washing.  If Jesus declared Peter clean, who would shortly go out and deny him three times, perhaps we too are clean.  And if God has made us – our hearts – clean, can we deny him his glory?

“…Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  (Acts 10:15, NIV)

– Joey

“You will seek me [God] and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13, NIV)
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:5, NIV)

More than anything else, it’s the heart that God’s interested in – after all, it’s who a person really is.  Someone who has a generous heart is, by necessity, generous, while someone with a deceitful heart is, well, deceitful.  How we see our hearts, then, is how we see ourselves – Prov 27:19 says, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” (NIV)

Many people view their heart based on a verse from Jeremiah:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9, NIV)

That’s not a very consoling thought; in fact, it’s somewhat bleak.  Because if our hearts are ‘beyond cure’, what hope do we have?

But God’s answer to a deceitful heart has always been, and still is, in a sense, a heart transplant.  He says to the Israelites in the book of Ezekiel:

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Eze 11:19, NIV)
“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit…” (Eze 18:31, NIV)

A new heart and a new spirit are at the start of our transformation into new life.  For whoever is in Christ “… is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Cor 5:17, NIV)  That includes a new heart – and a good one at that, which we’ll need if we’re going to grow in God.

Jesus confirmed the possibility, and indeed the necessity, of us having a good heart when he explained the Parable of the Sower.  Without a such a heart, we would not be able to take in and understand his words.  He said:

“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Lk 8:15, NIV)

And perhaps it’s because we have a new heart – a noble and good one – that God’s willing to fulfil its desires.  So he says in Psalms: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:4, NIV)

If God’s happy to go with our hearts, then perhaps they’re good enough.

– Joey