Should we follow our heart or trust in ourselves?

These things may sound nice and good but following your own heart or trusting in yourself are forms of idolatry, they are sins that can damn your soul to Hell for all of eternity. Do not be deceived by the things of this world that draw you away from the Lord especially the sin of self righteousness.
But there is Good News. Turning away from your sins and putting your trust in Christ ALONE (not yourself) can save you from the wrath of God that is to come and you have God's word on that.

The heart is deceitful and wicked.
http://bible.us/Jer17.9.NASB

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NASB)
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Proverbs 3:5-7 (NASB)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

University of Destruction (A book every college student must read)

This book will equip and college students for the real world.

University of Destruction (A Book Review)

Your Game Plan For Spiritual Victory On Campus

Book Details

• Author: David Wheaton
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (2005)
• Category: Christian Living

Discerning Reader Editorial Review

Reviewed 04/24/2006 by Tim Challies.

It is a tragic fact that many, and perhaps even the majority of students who proclaim to be Christians when they begin college, no longer make such a claim when they have finished. Four years of college, four years of being away from the presence of parents and church, leads many to abandon the faith they once professed. To combat this ongoing problem, David Wheaton, radio host and one-time tennis professional, has written University of Destruction. This book is targetted squarely at the teenager who is about to depart the comfort and safety of home to set out on his own, beginning with a college education.

To explain how so many young people can fall away during their tenure at college Wheaton differentiates between professors and possessors. Everyone who claims to be a Christian when he begins college is a professor, for he professes faith in Christ. But only a few are possessors, those who actually possess a living and active faith. Clearly it is only those who possess the indwelling Holy Spirit, and are thus possessed by God, who can expect to remain strong through their years of higher education.

Wheaton goes on to introduce what he calls the Pillars of Peril that every student will encounter. They are sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Sex refers to all forms of sexual deviance and activity outside of God's divinely ordained plan that sex be restricted to the marriage bed. The author emphasizes abstinence and allows no leeway for any type of sexual activity outside marriage. He also warns of the dangers involved in dating. While he does not directly advocate a courtship model, he does encourage young couples to date under the authority of their parents and to only date people with whom they can foresee a marriage.

Drugs refers not only to the recreational drugs that are all too common at colleges, but also to alcohol. Wheaton encourages students to avoid alcohol altogether, not only because most college students are underage and drinking is thus an offense against the governmental authorities, but because it may represent a poor example to unbelievers. He suggests that students "Commit to a higher standard - don't drink alcohol...period! Take it out of play; remove it completely from your life...I can think of no positive reasons for drinking alcoholic beverages" (pages 74,75).

The third Pillar of Peril is rock 'n' roll, by which the author refers not to music, but to what rock music exemplifies - rebellion against authority.

Having introduced the pillars of peril, Wheaton goes on to help the student put together a game plan for addressing and overcoming each one of them. He concludes with helpful teaching about the importance of choosing friends wisely and choosing the right college.

Throughout the book Wheaton continually refers the student to the Bible, affirming the power and supremacy of the Scriptures. His teaching is consistent with historical Protestantism and will surely reap great benefits in the lives of those who read and heed his teachings. He is deliberate in showing that the greatest sin on campus is not the acts themselves, but the erosion of Christian worldview, without which there is no authority, no right or wrong.

This is a book I would not hesitate to provide as a gift for any student who is planning on attending college. It would be an excellent title for the student to read and study with his parents. I definitely recommend it.

Conducting their children to the bottomless pit!

(J.A. James, "The Duties of Parents" 1828) 

On parents it depends in a great measure, what their children are to be . . .

  happy--or miserable in themselves,

  a comfort--or a curse to their relationships,

  an ornament--or a deformity to society,

  a seraph--or a fiend in eternity!

It is indeed a fearsome thing to be a parent, and is enough to awaken the anxious, trembling inquiry in every parent's heart: "Lord, who is sufficient for these things?" 

A graceless parent is a most dreadful character! Oh! to see the father and mother of an expanding family, with a crowd of young immortals growing up around them--and teaching worldliness to their offspring, and leading them to perdition by the power of their own example! 

A sheep leading her lambs into a den of hungry tigers, would be a shocking sight! But to see parents conducting their children to the bottomless pit--is most horrible!!

gracegems.org

Repentance

"Regret there will be, but the heart of repentance is the lifelong moral and spiritual turnaround of our lives as we submit to the Lord" - Sinclair Ferguson

If this is accurate, it looks like true repentance has escaped many who call themselves christians today.

Oh Lord, help me to slay the wickedness that remains in my life wherever it is found; may it be a repulsive stench in my nostrils.

God's servants do not promote themselves

(Don Fortner)

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." 2 Corinthians 4:5

No work is so great, no labor is so noble, no burden is so heavy, no honor is so humbling--as preaching the gospel of the grace of God to eternity bound sinners!

Let every man called of God to preach the Gospel, disentangle himself from the affairs of this world with determined consecration to Christ and His Gospel and His Church, addicting himself to prayer, study and preaching.

God's servants do not promote themselves, their ministry, or their church. They promote Christ, His Gospel, and His Kingdom. The man who promotes himself--serves no one but himself!

gracegems.org