Your heart is only as trustworthy
as what controls it.
Well, we're on the final stretch
of the first chapter of 1 Peter.
I have felt such a personal blessing
that I've been able to go through this material.
Maybe I could say it this way.
1 Peter chapter 1
is one of the best Gospel rants
in all of scripture.
It is just like Peter is putting out the material so fast,
it's like he can't get the words out fast enough.
He's so excited about the Gospel
he wants these suffering people to get.
And right now, we want to talk about passions.
The problem with passions,
we want to think about this messy world of passions.
Let me read from 1 Peter.
"As obedient children,
do not be conformed to the passions
of your former ignorance."
A passion is a motivating emotion
and we really couldn't do anything in our lives
if we hadn't been given the gift of passion.
I've seen it even in my granddaughter.
My granddaughter Lily for some reason
is deeply passionate about "Star Wars".
She comes home from school
and she immediately puts on her Darth Vader helmet
and is in character until she goes to bed.
And she finds such joy in doing this.
Our ability to be passionate
is really one of God's good gifts for us.
Every commitment, every calling,
every achievement requires passion.
You could sort of talk about passion this way.
Passion is desire plus motivation plus joy.
That's passion.
The problem is that we can't be ruled anymore
by our passions
because sin has made our passions,
at best, a mixed blessing.
I like the way Peter talks about this.
He says, "Do not be conformed
to the passions of your former ignorance."
What is he talking about?
He says, he means before you knew God,
before God is the central focus of your life.
Rather than whatever your heart wants to do,
the question is what would God want me to do
in this situation?
Before your former ignorance.
Well, before you knew his word.
Because his word needs to be a greater guide
in our lives than this combination
of desire, motivation and joy.
It's just not biblical,
although I hear Christians say this all the time
to say well, just follow your heart.
That's not good advice
because your heart will take you places
that you should not go.
Think about this.
And this is what Peter is arguing.
This is Paul Tripp's way of saying this.
Your heart is only as trustworthy
as what controls it.
Your heart is only as trustworthy as what controls it.
If God controls your heart,
then your heart is trustworthy.
If the Word controls your heart,
then your heart is trustworthy.
If the glory of God controls your heart,
rather than self-glory,
then your heart is trustworthy
but your heart is not always uniformly trustworthy
because passions for things
that are outside of God's will,
even if in a moment will grip us.
Peter wants us to know that passion,
shaped by God, shaped by His grace,
shaped by His Word
are a beautiful, productive thing
but watch out
that you are not ruled by your passions
but you're ruled by God's presence,
His power, His grace
and the clear tracks that you're to run on of His word.
and the clear tracks that you're to run on of His Word.
Place your passions under God and His Word
and that is a very good place to live.