My pastor has been in 1 Cornithinans 5 the last few weeks, speaking about the carnal Christian. The Lord has had me doing some soul-searching in my own life of areas in which I am carnal. Last night, He took me, yet again, to Psalm 51 last night, and specifically to verse 10:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
I think one of the dangers of the Christian life is complacency, of feeling as though we have arrived. We can very easily go from being the tax collector, beating our breasts in sorrow for sin, and unable to even lift our heads, to a sin-sniffing, self righteous, law wielding Pharisee. All the while, in our self-righteousness, we can completely miss our own glaring sin as we look for the specks in our brothers eyes. Why? Well, because we so focus on outward sins, or on the things we once struggled with, we fail to see that our heart is still deceitful and wicked, that we have this massive thing called “pride” that has grown down inside our hearts and has spreads out it’s tentacles into so many different areas of our lives.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
That’s my prayer. That the Lord would show every one of us all the areas of my heart that are still carnal, that still cling to the flesh. And I’m not just talking about sex. I’m not just talking about pornography. I’m not just talking about drugs, or alcohol, or whatever sin held you in the past. YES! Deal with those! Get rid of those! But don’t grow prideful in the process. Don’t allow the work God has done in you to make you think “you’re all that and a bag of chips”, as my pastor says.
Remember DAILY your need for a Savior, your desperate need for forgiveness, and that that forgiveness was only made available to you due to the mercy and grace of God the Father, shown so clearly in the death of Jesus on the cross for your sins. Remember that Jeremiah 17:9 is still true “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I realize how Holy He is…and how NOT I am. But the amazing thing? He still loves me! He still loves YOU! He wants to work out HIS will in us, and praise God, He will continue to plow the ground of our hearts by His Word and His Spirit. Or, as Paul said:
“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
The Wading Pool 
Well written.
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