The Self-destroying Heart
—Jesus Made Me Honest With Myself
We have thought about how a true self image is ruined by a self-demeaning and self-deceiving heart. Now we take it right down to the wire as we finish our first trilogy, “Jesus made me honest with myself”.
It's bad enough to demean and deceive ourselves, but what makes it worse, is that we thereby destroy ourselves.
This destruction could not possibly be more terrible. The Bible calls it "death" but it is not a death marked by tombstones. It is eternal death. In John's vision it was a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).
That eternal destruction of your soul begins with a false image of yourself and with deceiving yourself about your sins. Ultimately it destroys your soul, but meanwhile it ruins your present life.
At best it makes your life a house of cards that will soon fall down. At worst it makes your life a misery of failed enterprises, broken relationships, and unfulfilled dreams.
Today we hear much about the problems of divorce, drugs, disease, and so forth. These things, when they are the victim's own fault, have an underlying cause —self-dishonesty. Don't demean, deceive, and destroy yourself any longer. Let Jesus into your heart and he will make you honest with yourself and whole again.
You must stop your self-destruction, unlike the vast majority who keep going down that path (Matthew 7:13-14). Even if it could gain you the whole world, what will it profit if you forfeit your soul? (Mark 8:36)
Changing the Self-destroying Heart
The blessings of peace, passion, and praise, are too precious to pervert or destroy, and by restoring them to our hearts we stop our self-destruction.
1 Guard Your Heart With Peace
Philippians 4:4-7
We can, through listening to God’s voice and praying to him, remove the destructive anxieties; and replace them with the peace of God that is a blessing far beyond anything that our own understanding can provide us. This blessing of inner peace from God, and the joy it brings, is able to transform our hearts.
2 Fill Your Heart With Passion
Matthew 22:37-39
The greatest commandment, to love God with your whole heart and soul and mind, is the key to saving your soul rather than destroying it. A heart with an all-consuming passion for God is a heart impossible to destroy. In the love of God we keep ourselves (Jude 1:20-21).
3 Express Your Heart in Praise
Luke 1:46
Words can be the most destructive weapons of all. Even before they have formed on our lips, our words can attack and destroy us. The tongue can set on fire and destroy our very lives (James 2:2-10). But Jesus says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34).
If a passion for God fills your heart, then God will be in your mouth and on your lips. Instead of poison your words will be praise. Mary out of her heart and soul magnified God (Luke 1:46).
Of course not all our words will be in the form of Mary's magnificat. But even our most mundane words will still reflect glory upon God. Words that do that will build up and not destroy what is good.