Here are some inspirational quotes from some notable (some even considered genius-level smart) people to start your day off with:
And now for a quick review that applies to every one of the above quotes: they’re all wrong and heretical at best. Especially the last one that has the gall to rope God into it.
If you spend this day only remembering one thing from this post, remember this: check everything against Scripture. If it doesn’t align, it’s not of God. If it claims to be from God and it isn’t Biblical, it’s heresy. This is black and white, right or wrong, and I’ll say it one more time: if something claims to be from God, or includes Him, but goes against His Word, it is heresy. It doesn’t matter who says it, it could be your spouse, parent, or even pastor. Everyone on this planet is capable of heresy, even unintentionally. Ever hear the old saying, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”? (Prov. 14:12; Matt. 7:13)
So let’s put these quotes about following your heart up against Scripture to see if they hold up. Specifically, I want to look at Jeremiah 17:9, today’s Verse of the Day. You see, Jeremiah knew that if he ended up trusting himself that he would end up cursed, but if he trusted in the Lord he would end up blessed – but his heart betrayed him: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The human heart cannot be trusted, healed, or understood. It will forever be devious, incurable, and inscrutable. This verse gives us one of the most powerful statements regarding our depravity in all of the Bible: “The heart is deceitful above ALL things.”
If you haven’t heard of the doctrine of total depravity, it means that every human to ever exist is sinful through and through. No part of us remains untouched by sin. That includes our mind, will, emotions, conscience, and heart. C.S. Lewis wrote in his introduction to The Screwtape Letters:
“Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years’ study in moral and ascetic theology. They forgot that there is an equally reliable, though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works. “My heart” – I need no other’s “showeth me the wickedness of the ungodly.”
Lastly, today, let’s look at the very next verse to gain a better context of verse 9. “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (v. 10). This should terrify you.
Do you see what is happening here? “The heart is deceitful above all things” – “I the LORD search the heart.” Our depravity is placed right up against God’s justice. God answers Jeremiah’s question “who can understand it (the heart)?” The unknowable heart is known to God.
I don’t know about you, but the absolute last person I want to trust and wager my happiness on is myself. I will mess up. I will fail myself. If I’m...
