Seek Not After Your Own Heart And Eyes

The children of Israel were commanded to alter their garments by placing “fringes” or borders on them (Mt 9:20). They are to “look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them!” It reminds them that they are “holy unto God” (v. 40), and are distinct from other nations (Zec 2:8). They were also warned not to seek after their own heart and eyes, which they can “use to go a whoring.” If they do, then they could go after strange gods and provoke the Lord “to jealousy” (Deut 32:16), because He “is a jealous God” (Ex 34:14), and He “trieth the hearts and reins” (Ps 7:9).

 Since “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), we should never follow it! Our own imaginations and fleshly desires (1 Jn 2:16), can become the potential weakness of our hearts. We perceive with our eyes, which are the “light of the body” (Mt 6:22). What we see can affect our emotions and cause our desires. When Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes” (Gen 3:6), she began to desire it even though it was forbidden! When the 12 spies sent to the land of Canaan saw the giants, 10 of them said, “we were in our own sight as grasshoppers” (Num 13:33).

Their wrong perception and exaggeration caused fear in their hearts (Prov 4:23). We live in an age of cell phones, the Internet, and AI. Satan is a master deceiver (2 Jn 1:7), and the father of lies (Jn 8:44); he can use these technologies to mesmerize people away from the truth (Gal 3:1). Beware, what seems to look good now may not turn out good in the end. Follow Jesus (Mt 16:24), and not your heart! God bless you!

- Pastor Melito Barrera