The human heart is a fickle thing. One minute calm, the next angry. One minute ecstatic, the next suicidal. Our hearts find things they desire only to be replaced with something else we desire as much or more than what they already have. They are often very misleading and easily distracted. There's a line from a hymn called "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" that speaks of the heart this way, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." Powerful words that speak of the fickleness of our hearts. Too many times I find my heart is distracted, disengaged, disheartened, disenfranchised, and many other "dis words" than it is focused on the grander scheme of life. I find myself often more concerned about what to eat for lunch than about making a difference in this world in which I live. The Bible has this to say about the human heart, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" Genesis 6:5. Comforting stuff. I have an evil heart. You have an evil heart. And because of this our outlook on life is skewed. Life becomes self focused and all about my wants and needs. We're told to follow our heart, and make decisions based on what seems right in our heart. The only problem is that our hearts are fickle. They are evil and misleading. If we chased all of our hearts desires we would be in some serious trouble.
Being a Pastor I see numerous examples of the fickleness of the human heart. Loads of people walk through the doors of the church with the intention of learning what it means to be a follower of JESUS. They listen to teachings, ask questions, build relationships with other "church people" etc. But when it comes to the living out the teaching and living out the words of worship songs that we sing, the fickleness of our heart shows itself. You see it's not exactly convenient to live a "Christian" life. In fact it's really hard. So hard in fact that JESUS says,“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it." Self denial. Giving up our lives. These are not convenient ideas at all. So when the challenge of Christianity comes face to face with the reality of everyday life it's not always a beautiful thing. Choosing to follow Christ requires us to die, and we don't want to. And so in my experience, I watch people come to meet JESUS and begin the journey of Christianity only to bail out time and time again to chase after the distractions of life instead of the life-giver. It's as though we don't believe that JESUS is really any better than all the other stuff in the world. Fickleness. The Bible also gives GOD's stance on fickleness. In the book of Revelation is says, "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." It makes GOD sick to his stomach.
So how do we become less fickle hearted? I believe that the answer is to allow GOD to perfect His work in our lives. And how does He do that? "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" James 1. Trials and testing of our faith, not magically morphing into a Super-Christian, but following GOD obediently when it's easy and when it takes everything that we have. We have to make a choice. Will we be fickle or will we surrender our fickle hearts in obedience to GOD? And so today I make a choice to refuse the temptation of living fickly and choose to allow GOD to perfect my faith. It's not the easier route but it is indeed the better one.
