Jeremiah 17:9 & Character

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

I know very few people of character. There are some who are rigidly honest in some areas of their life only to demonstrate consistent moral failures in other areas. One guy might be honest in business but a drunk and a pervert.

My golfing buddy Dave is a great friend. There are few people whose respect I desire more. Of all people, I wish for him to see me as a man of character. This morning, while playing golf, as he was writing down the scores, I asked him about the score and as he told me I was 3 over, I noticed that he had incorrectly given me a 5 instead of a six.

This is where the struggle began and I felt the perversity of my heart.

I didn't want to tell him what I really got because I wanted to beat him. And nobody would ever know the difference. And so as we rode in the cart to the next hole, the conflict is going on within me about whether or not to tell him the truth.

After 'fessing up' and talking to him about it, he mentioned, "On paper, you would never do it." Right, if I was asked about it on a test, "Would you lie about your golf score if you knew you could get away with it? " I would answer "No" every time.

So why this conflict? Why even hesitate about telling the truth? The answer lies in the perversity of the human heart. Men are bent on evil continually, and there is a constant struggle in the heart of all men, even Christians to lie, cheat and steal.

After telling Dave the truth about my score, I felt so relieved. What a lie that the flesh puts forth, that we would be happier cheating and that the truth is a bad thing. Some things are easy on paper, but circumstances bring out the perversity of our hearts.

Is Your Eye Evil?

Mat 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?'

My good friend was very excited, I could tell. The local golf pro had called him to play in the Chamber golf outing at the premier course in Northern Michigan. So he got to play in a four man scramble, at a great course with lots of prizes all for free. He was thrilled.

You would think, being my friend that I would have been happy for him. So why was it that part of me was upset? Disgusted even? The reason was that he was getting to do all this and I wasn’t. What is it about human beings who envy and are get jealous when good things happen to people? Even people that we like?

I already answered the question. We are envious and jealous. This is a fruit of our sinful natures. Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like...

In Matthew 20, Jesus is telling a parable about people who agreed to work a full day for a certain wage. The farmer hired some people later on throughout the day and at pay time, paid everyone the same. Our natural human nature says, “That’s not fair!”

Jesus uses the parable to teach us to delight in the goodness of God in having much grace. The new nature should have produced excitement in me for my friend. Upon thinking of this Scripture and recognizing the conflict, I was able to see my envy for what it was, confess it and truly begin to share in my friends joy.

Sin is out to destroy our lives and make us miserable. Jesus has come that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly.