The Sin Remaining In The Heart Of The Believer

I was talking with my wife this weekend and we came upon the subject of motives. The main conversation was about women’s dress, that is how they dress. While the Bible clearly defines that a woman is supposed to dress modestly, it is very common in the American church, mine included, to see women not dressing modestly. Karen couldn’t understand why some women do this and I told her ultimately it comes down to motive. The question is why are they dressing immodestly and that does not just mean “showing skin.” It is a matter of the heart and I told her only the woman and God knows the true motive.

It is important for us to examine our hearts. The wise King Solomon once wrote:

    “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.” (Proverbs 17:3)

The Hebrew word for “tests” is bahan and it means “to test, try; probe, examine; to be tested; to test and learn the genuineness of an object.” The last phrase is very appropriate for our subject. How genuine is your reason for doing something? We can do holy things, we can do righteous things, and we can do very good things all for the wrong reasons. Remember this about your heart?

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

When it comes to modest dress, or the lack thereof, a woman—especially one who calls herself a Christian—should always ask why she is about to wear something. And before any of you nice ladies get mad at me and say I shouldn’t be judging women on what they wear, understand I am not judging, I am merely informing. The Word of God is clear and your beef is not with me; it is with God. If you’re wearing certain apparel to draw attention to yourself then I would say you need to ask yourself why. In all things as Christians we should be seeking wisdom for our lives:

    “Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.” (Proverbs 17:24)

Our Jewish friends are observing the High Holiday (Holy-Day) of Rosh Hoshanah. This is know as the Jewish New Year and is one of the most important religious holidays of the Jews. In the Old Testament it is known also as the “Feast of the Trumpets.” Rosh Hashanah is “observed as a judgment day as Jews believe that God compares the good deeds of a person with his or her bad deeds and based on that, He decides how the next year will turn out to be.” (Source: Kukil Bora, International Business Times, 8/31/2012)

Might I suggest something? Perhaps we can join our Jewish brothers and sisters and examine ourselves…better yet, allow the Holy Spirit to examine each of us in matters of the heart, whether it be our dress, our actions, our attitudes, whatever. Let God show us the true nature of who we are. Our old friend Matthew Henry, commenting on Proverbs 17:3, reminds us:

    “God tries the heart by affliction. He thus has often shown the sin remaining in the heart of the believer.”

I have no doubt there is sin remaining in my heart. The question is, what am I going to do to remove it.

What will you do?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

If you’re receiving these devotionals for the first time and would like to receive them on a regular basis, please email me at jeffers221@bellsouth.net and use “Please add to Devotional List” as the subject.

    Copyright © 2012 David Jeffers

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,