The True Picture of Our Hearts

“Desires without boundaries. Each man for himself. Both Paul and James describe the human heart as a heart that screams, “I want! I want! I want!” The true picture of our hearts is not that we are empty cups. Rather, we are, apart from Christ, out-of-control binge eaters, gluttons, always frantically looking for more. If we could see ourselves in the mirror as we really are apart from Christ, we look like a raging fire or a greedy leech. “I want! I want! I want!” Like a parasite that is never filled, we agonize and whine (Prov. 30:15f). Yet this hunger never makes us satisfied or obese. It starves us and kills us. We look like anorexics, holocaust victims, skeletons. By following our desires, we are dead in sins.”

--Edward T. Welch, “The Bondage of Sin” in The Journal of Biblical Counseling • Volume 17 • Number 2 • Winter 1999