A Change of Heart Is Needed   

My car wouldn’t start. The engine would turn over but it wouldn’t crank. I knew enough to realize it wasn’t the battery. So I contacted my grandson who is now a mechanic. He came over, explored several options, and ruled out a couple of sources of the problem. However, instead of continuing to slowly eliminate causes by means of trial and error, he finally decided that he needed to borrow a piece of equipment to hook up to my car that would definitively diagnose the issue.

Many of us would agree that our world isn’t running very well these days. It has serious issues. We could point out various problems that should be addressed, and if they were rightly dealt with it would certainly be an improvement. While many people focus on attempting to fix our society through the various trial-and-error of programs, initiatives, and new leaders, we could still be missing the real source of our malfunction. Some of those efforts are helpful and are needed. Nevertheless, no amount of legislation, reforms, or elections are going to resolve the bottom-line cause.

God our Creator is the only One capable of accurately diagnosing the real problem. And He revealed it to us long ago. We just refuse to pay attention or to accept it. The heart of the problem is the heart. No, that is not a typo. The foundational cause of our world being in a mess is the condition of the human heart. The Bible declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). We don’t like to admit this truth. We prefer to proclaim the goodness of humanity. That is part of the deceitfulness of our hearts. We fool ourselves about ourselves. We are blind to our own faults. However, mankind throughout our existence has proven this declaration to be true. Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden, the problem with the world has not been our difficult circumstances, our unjust society, our harsh environment, or our corrupt leaders. Put mankind in an ideal paradise where all of those factors are in perfect order and it will eventually get corrupted by man’s own pride, selfishness, and sinful heart.

If we are going to make the world a better place, then we must get to the root of the problem. While we are passing good laws, electing better leaders, and seeking to reform society, let’s not neglect the heart. The Bible teaches that God can put new hearts in people through faith in Jesus. He can forgive and cleanse. He can transform people from the inside out. He can replace pride with humility, selfishness with love, and sin with purity.   

Let’s make sure that we are experiencing such a change in our own hearts. It begins when we repent of our sins and trust Jesus as our Savior. Then it continues as we daily walk in the light of His truth and in close fellowship with Him. Additionally, let’s encourage others to seek such a change in their hearts too. The greater the number of people who have their hearts cleansed through faith in Jesus, the better our world will be. Without it, we will keep being frustrated, because no matter what reforms we make in society, man will be there to mess it up with his selfish heart.

 Don’t misunderstand me. We need to be actively involved in reforming our society in every way we can. However, let’s realize that the heart of man will always be an obstacle to its success. Therefore we also need to focus on the root of the problem, whether in us or in others. Let’s pray for God to change hearts, including our own.