What are you?

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)

Who can understand this? I will tell you that only one who knows Christ can truly understand it, much less own it and embrace it. Jeremiah is writing about humanity's total deprivation. Many people do not believe this is true, yet scripture tells us it is. The ESV uses the term desperately sick; in Hebrew, it is וְאָנֻ֣שׁ (wǝ ā nuš), which means wicked. But in Christ, there is hope for transformation.

When we are in the world, we do not realize just how wicked we are. We go about our selfish, self-centered lives and think we are doing great. Only when the Spirit grabs us and shakes us, knocking the scales from our eyes and ears, we see what we truly are: monsters.

Is that you? Did that happen to you? I was so lost in the world, and it wasn’t until late in my life that Jesus grabbed me by the neck and pulled me from the pit before I sunk any deeper. Does this sound familiar? Then comes reality, and you realize you were a monster. Guilt, regret, and hurt all come crashing down upon you. It covers you until you cannot breathe, and when you think you have taken your last breath, there is a glimpse of light. Someone is pulling the rubble off you, and you look up through the glaringly bright light, and again, it is Christ.

If you believe you are a Christian and nothing like this happened to you, maybe not so drastic, but if you have not come to the realization of who you were or understand the weight of your sin, there is an urgent need for repentance.

We at In Messiah are evangelists. We do not want to see anyone go to hell, although we know many will. When you meet Jesus Christ, you change. You cannot help but change because His righteousness, goodness, and love are transferred to you. Like an infusion of new blood or a heart transplant, you are changed. This is the power of redemption through Christ.

C.S. Lewis told a story similar to this: there are two hogs, and they eat garbage every single day, and they love it—filthy, dirty, muddy hogs who do nothing but eat garbage every day. Then, one day, one hog is changed and becomes a man. Garbage is thrown in the trough, and the other hog takes off running for the garbage. Now changed to a man, the former hog does not realize he is a man; he runs to the garbage and eats it. He starts retching and vomiting up the garbage. Then he turns around and sees you, and he is embarrassed by his behavior and begins begging for your forgiveness because he now realizes he is no longer a hog, and the things he loved in the past now make him sick. This is how Christ changes us; we go from being dirty, filthy hogs content to live on garbage to children of God asking for forgiveness for every day we were a hog.

When you know Christ, you truly can no longer be wicked. You yell at your husband or wife. You take things that are not yours. You lie, and it is like a knife is stuck in your heart. It hurts and will not go away until you go back and apologize for what you have done, no matter the repercussions. You are sickened by it, and sometimes worse, you are completely embarrassed by it, ashamed of what you have done. If this is you, in my heart, I truly believe you know Christ. If this is not you, listen to me; only Jesus can change you.

Understand this: the unrepentant, unregenerate heart, a heart that has not turned away from sin and has not been spiritually reborn, is wicked. Unless it is changed through faith in and the grace of Christ, all of heaven will rejoice when that heart is cast into hell. There is no doubt of this because the unrepentant heart can only contaminate righteousness; it is evil.

Where are you with Jesus? Think about it.

Peace and Grace, really, I mean it, Peace and Grace, and both come from Christ.