Question: (a) What
can you do, if anything, with "rebellion of
the heart?" (b) You are tempted, tested, and tried--you want to repent, but your heart doesn't.
Answer by John M.
Frame, from Life at New Life
The person described in the
question, evidently, has not only been "tempted, tested and tried," but has also committed sin. That is to say,
he or she has not only been tempted, but has yielded
to that temptation. Otherwise, there would not be anything to "repent" from. So the basic question is: what do you do when you've
sinned and you want to repent, but your heart doesn't do it?
(Remember as we discuss this question what "repentance" means. It is not only feeling sorry for your sin, but actually turning
away from it and turning to Christ, so that you stop committing
the sin.)
Well, we've all had that feeling
sometimes: we would like to change, but
something within us, it seems, won't go along. We think of it being
sort of like an ailing automobile: the car wants to go, but
something inside it, say, the carburetor, isn't working quite right,
so it won't move. Or an ailing person: Alice
would love to play
tennis, but her back won't let her do it. So it seems,
often, when we commit sin. We would like to stop, but something
within us (the questioner calls it the "heart")
won't let us stop.
But look, now: The
"heart," in scripture, is not like a bad carburetor inside a
car, or like a bad back slowing down someone's body. The heart (in
the religious sense, of course, not the physical organ) is the person at the deepest level- what
he or she really is. My
heart is me. Your heart is you. "Rebellion of the heart," then, is rebellion of the person).
It is my rebellion and yours.
So the heart is not something inside
us that, contrary to our best intentions,
won't work right. A rebellious heart means that our intentions
are not good. Having a rebellious
heart means nothing more nor
less than this: we want to sin. The
picture of a broken "part" inside us is a bad picture and a dangerous one, for it is a way
of excusing sin: "I'm not to blame," we think; "that broken
part is." But we are to blame,
we are responsible.
Now there are times when we feel like the person described in the
question: as if we want to repent, but can't. At those times,
however, I think the real problem is more like this: we want to repent,
but we don't want it enough. We want
to repent, but we also
enjoy the sin. We want to stop, but, inconsistently, we
also want to keep doing it. That's a more biblical way of
putting it: not "I can't," but "I won't."
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That way, we accept
the responsibility instead of putting it off on
some inner "carburetor."
And then, after accepting the responsibility,
what do we do about it? Repent, of
course! Quit saying "I can't." That comes from the devil. If
you are a Christian, you can. Ask
God's help and ask the
help of elders and other Christians if you find it difficult. But
don't give up the battle. Remember I Cor. 10:13: "No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is
faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it." Hear that? "You can stand up under it!" That's great news! Don't call God a liar. Trust him
and obey.
If you need more motivation, think
again of the awful price Jesus paid
to save you from sin. Think of the unmeasurable love displayed by
him in his death for you. Then ask his help to live a life
pleasing to him.