Cut to the Heart: Knowing the Answer Before You Ask

With a Subtitle: When temptation leaves you wondering what to do, the answer is already in Christ.

A brief Excerpt: Eve blew it. Judas blew it. Peter and Paul blew it. When sin's deceit leaves you asking "What shall I do?", the answer is settled before the question is ever spoken—keep returning and clinging to Jesus, who is always there.

The Author is: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 2:37, “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brothers, what shall we do?'”

Background

In my Disciple Group, we are reading the first dozen or so chapters of Genesis. This week we read and discussed chapter three, a chapter I called the most heartbreaking in all of written literature. Even with the limited descriptions that Moses provides for the scene in the garden after Eve is deceived, it is impossible not to feel the anguish of God as He encounters the entrance of sin and the end of His perfect creation. Likewise, the despair and helplessness expressed by Eve is almost palpable as she tries to tell God what she has done. In her words, my heart hears her saying, “What was I to do? You were not here, Adam was not helping, and the serpent made it sound so good. Why couldn’t You have been here to help me know what to do?” It’s easy for us to say that Eve knew the rule that God had established about eating from that tree, so she should have simply obeyed. I mean, she had just quoted it a moment earlier to the serpent, even making it more restrictive than God did. But in our heart of hearts, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know it’s not always that easy. In the temptations of Satan, he uses much truth to spin his web of deceit.

Application

And so, we can be left with a sense of wondering, “What shall I do?” Sometimes, like for Eve, the moment seizes you, and sometimes it’s the longstanding habit you wish you could break. Eve blew it, Judas blew it, Peter blew it. Even Paul says he blew it time and time again. The antidote, we know, is more of Jesus. The cure, unfortunately, will not come until we suffer the fate promised by the eating of the tree. But the treatment is a continual returning and clinging to Him who is always there, Who forgives us even as we give in to the deceit. The despair and uncertainty are real, but no more real than the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of His Word. So if you are cut to the heart and things seem to be hanging in the balance, take Jesus at His word and experience the victory He has won.

Charge

As we seek Him today, know the answer already in case you find yourself asking later, “What shall I do?”