“Follow your heart.”
–Worldly Wisdom
I’m excited to treat this wise saying of the world through my article published by Modern Reformation. We live in a culture that tells us things like look inside, follow your heart, trust your gut. We’re not really conditioned to look outside of ourselves to find truth, but the real truth is that our hearts are deceitful, sick, and shouldn’t be trusted. That leaves us to find another (better) way.
Here’s and excerpt:
Our experiences still slither up to us and whisper the familiar refrain of the ancient serpent, “did God actually say…” but we must remember Christ’s final cry on the cross. Trusting only what we feel is ultimately self-delusional, not wise. It binds us to the swirling winds of our emotions and the innumerable variables of the wider world, very little of which we can account for and comprehend.
Read the whole Modern Reformation article here: Don’ Be Deceived By Experiences
Soli Deo Gloria
The Drawing Board 
Hey Matt – thank you for this thoughtful article and the powerful reminder that our salvation has been accomplished by a loving Savior and rests squarely on that solid foundation of His finished work on the cross. At times I am drawn back into my past and I am tempted to question God’s love for me – how could he ever accept one so flawed – surely God didn’t say he intended to redeem such a one. This kind of thinking is the well spring of such dispair for me. But, as you pointed out in your article, the Holy Spirit Lovingly, Graciously bridges that gap from the familiar temporal, often shameful, human experience to the spiritual reality of His Eternally Glorious Love manifested on the Cross of The Lord Jesus – for me! So with Paul I say, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Love you Bro – Bob
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Hey Bobby,
Thanks for your kind and encouraging words! If dwell on ourselves too much–always looking in at our own sin both past and present–we’ll have a hard time finding assurance. Some advice I heard a long time ago was to, “glance at your sin, but gaze at your messiah.” Yeah, the sin is there, we should acknowledge it, but we have a great high priest advocating for us before the heavenly throne. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are sons. God, in his abundant grace, reminds us that when he looks at us, he sees nothing but the righteousness of his Son. It’s in that confidence that we can build our lives–not letting our past or present define us–and in faith find assurance that we will one day make it to the end we’ve been promised!
Love you, man!
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