Religion encourages a change in behavior as proof of holiness. Grace empowers a change in the desires of the heart, which drives behavior. If you leave out the heart, you leave out grace.

The heart craves what it thinks it needs to survive, the flesh seeks to survive without God. The flesh isn’t concerned with truth, only satisfaction, which can masquerade as peace. The heart or the real you knows there is a truth. That’s why it seeks to make sense of things it knows to be wrong or have been promised by God but may not be in our lives. If it’s not in ones life, we will seek a justification, often putting the blame on God.

To experience all of God, our hearts must be fully persuaded of his character and Christ’s finished work. 

Many believers still struggle with destructive habits, sin and doubt. Some teach that those are natural issues out of a wicked heart. But we know that God gives believers new hearts that are not wicked. The remaining issue is to root our hearts in his love for us to the degree that our natural cravings and desires change. This is not through our own effort, it’s the fruit of his spirit influencing us, which we must choose to allow.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Psalm 37:4-6

 

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