The Wrong Direction

The Bible doesn't stutter when it states its opinion of Natural Man's heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)

The aim of the Christian life is largely a removal of the old self and a putting on of the new (Eph 4:22-24). We are, as believers, in a constant process of change because we need it. So why is it, as a general rule, when we examine what we ought to think and do -- how things really are -- we usually start with ourselves? "I think this" and "I feel that" are the forerunners of our conclusions. It is perfectly normal, but completely nonsensical in view of what Scripture says we are at our cores. We can't start with us -- our normal thoughts and feelings. We have to start with the truth -- with what we know to be true -- instead of our own deceitful hearts.

The Bible is all about God and our relationship to Him. If we wanted to start with the truth that is outside of us -- not of human manufacture -- and work from there, it would seem that the best place to go would be God as He presents Himself in His Word. Anyone who has spent time in His Word has experienced this collision of "what I think" and "what I feel" with what the Bible says about God and about ourselves. "That's not what I think; that's not what I feel." And this argues for a truth that is outside of us, that is not limited to our deceitful hearts.

We might start with us. We're basically good, you see. I mean, sure there are bad people, but I'm not as bad as they are, so I'm not really that bad. So why do bad things happen to me? Well, either God is either not loving enough or not powerful enough to do something about it. So we end up with a faulty conclusion because we went the wrong direction, premised on a faulty premise.

If we start with "God is love" and "the Almighty," then questions about whether He is loving enough or powerful enough go away and we're forced to come to a different conclusion. Because our usual approach is the elevation of Man and the depreciation of God, and that can never be a good approach. That's the wrong direction.