The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."
-- Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV)
Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David:
"There is a deep deceitfulness in the human heart. The man who thinks he is honest is the one who is most deceived. We are so fond of ourselves that we screen our own faults, and very seldom do we get a right judgment of our own character."
A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy:
"The man who has struggled to be honest with himself knows how hard it is to see himself as he really is. We are not merely fallen creatures -- we are creatures who have learned to disguise our fallenness from ourselves, and the disguise has become so natural we mistake it for the real thing."
Augustine, Confessions, Book X:
"Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was without, and there I sought you. And, deformed as I was, I ran after those beautiful things which you have made. You were with me, and I was not with you. Those things held me back which would not exist unless they existed in you. You called and cried out and shattered my deafness. You shone and gleamed and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrance, and I drew breath and now I pant for you. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for longing of your peace."
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter 3:
"We must not trust every impulse of the heart, for many are led astray by their own feelings. It is easy to be deceived in what we desire, and to mistake the voice of passion for the voice of God. The true disciple tests every thought against obedience, and holds himself to what is right even when the feeling is absent."
What truth about yourself have you known for months -- maybe years -- and still refused to act on, and what are you building instead of facing it?
Epictetus, Discourses, II.18:
"Consider who you are. First, a human being -- bound by the highest laws to act according to your nature. What is that nature? To be rational, to choose what is right, and to refuse what merely feels good. You cannot claim to be honest while living in the performance of honesty."
St. Clair, MI: -- Mostly cloudy, becoming sunny. High 86°F. SW wind 5-10 mph, gusts to 20. 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 PM. Tonight: partly cloudy, low 60°F. Current conditions: fog/mist, 70°F, humidity 94%, calm wind.