May 14, 2017 (Proverbs 25:28)

“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (Prov 25:28). There are any number of ways in which a lack of self-control is manifested in the thinking or conduct of a person. Failure to acknowledge the potential for deceit within the heart is one of these. It is to this lack of rule over one’s spirit that Jeremiah 17:9 makes reference: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” One might contend this only applies to those not yet redeemed by grace through faith into a new birth. However being reborn spiritually never imputes a perfect sanctification. There is no erasing of ‘free will’ that prevents a righteous person from deliberately making decisions contrary to the revealed will of God. Such is the heretical error of that doctrine known as eternal security which serves to ignore the multiplicity of warnings by Jesus and the apostles as to the danger of apostasy (falling away from grace). It would be wonderful beyond measure if coming to a saving knowledge of Christ would automatically bring all thoughts into submission to the authority of godly revelation. But a ‘saved’ man or woman does not become a robot without freedom of choice. The ‘two trees’ in the garden of Eden are symbolic of life for the redeemed today, presenting a day-by-day if not moment-by-moment choice as to whom one will serve. There is a continuous challenge for those born again to resist being arrogantly confident in their own ideas based on human reasoning. What God has revealed in Scripture for our daily lives is the only standard by which the walls of our lives can remain intact against the deceitful thoughts aimed at our minds like flaming arrows or fiery darts by the enemy of our souls Satan. We dare not allow pride to cause us to see ourselves as wise in our own eyes, no longer requiring correction if not godly rebuke on occasion.