The world tells us that the human heart is basically good.
But the God of Jeremiah? Not so much:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord…the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? [Jeremiah 17:5-9] [my emphasis]
On the other hand, who can deny the overflowing abundance of goodwill and compassion that we demonstrate to one another on a daily basis? For indeed, much of that is a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit Himself working in the transformed hearts of the men and women who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
So the “good fight” is a race that’s being won. [1Tim. 6:12]
But the highest hurdle for my flesh wasn’t built in front of me. It was built inside of me.
Satan never tries to sell himself. He knows I’ve learned to recognize most of his tactics through the presence of the Spirit. But one method still seems to be really effective. He convinces me that I’m the only one who can save myself.
Not God. Not Jesus. Not him. Not nobody.
The key is for me to instill a harmless, remedial sense of self sufficiency somewhere in my “basically good heart.” What careless God-fearing man wouldn’t jump at that!
Unfortunately, the Great Deceiver is often way ahead of us. The apostle Paul explains that I, having believed, belong to Christ and NOTHING can ever change that. [see: Eph. 1:13-14]
Yet while he can never diminish or take away that redemptive status [1], Satan can, however, prevent me from inheriting the very best [2] the Lord has to give me when I sit on the judgment seat before Him [2Cor. 5:10] when He returns to inaugurate His millennial kingdom in the next age. [see also: Matt. 25:14-30]
Inheriting is the ONLY thing the Evil One can convince me to squander.
But he doesn’t want me to know it.