THE DESIRES OF OUR HEART PREVAIL OVER REASON

 

 

 

Why aren’t all believers? Why do they not at least live according to the dictates of their conscience? The simple answer is that we follow the dictate of our heart’s desires rather than our mind, as Jesus had taught:

·       John 3:19–20 “And this is the judgment: the light [of truth] has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

 

However, some believe that we do wrong because of ignorance. If this is so, then moral education is the answer. While ignorance is a problem, it isn’t the fundamental problem. Instead, it is the desires of our heart. We know that what we are doing is wrong but harden our conscience:

 

·       Ephesians 4:17–18 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

 

Consequently, ignorance is the result of hardening our conscience against the light of truth and the guilt of our ways. Consequently, Israel had hardened their conscience against the many prophets God had sent to them so that they might confess their sins to God. However, they consistently refused in favor of the desires of their heart:

 

·       Jeremiah 2:17, 25 “Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?...But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners [and their ways], and after them I will go.’”

 

What they loved condemned them. They were not open to reason and facing the consequences of their rebellion against their God who had delivered them from their suffering as slaves in Egypt. Instead, they refused to change and chose their present joys over any promise of future blessedness.