“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.’” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

This verse is for all the doers out there. We may all have the greatest of intensions but God declares that His reward is based on what has been done. Now you may think that this stimulates the “works and service” type religion that brought the Pharisees at odds with Jesus. But when it comes to the human capacity for sin, applying the “deed” that purposely moves you away from that sin requires extraordinary faith. Our hearts and mind can wander, as they are part of the flesh that sins. As the heart, or mind, desires sin we fall into the age old decision trap of do I commit the sin (giving into the flesh) or do we consciously choose to avoid the sin. And avoiding the sin is the “deed” that is referenced in today’s verse. So no, God is not asking for acts and services to raise your tally marks in the nice book. He is desiring us to do the hard work of avoiding the sin in our lives. God gave us free will, and with that gift comes great responsibility, and even graver consequences. With our free will, we are free to serve ourselves and our sin, or choose the path that God has called us to take. We have the freedom to choose faith in Jesus and be saved, or put our faith elsewhere risking eternal separation from our Heavenly Father and creator. These decisions are all extremely important, but what we learn from Jeremiah’s prophesy is that what we do about our decisions is even more important. God will examine the heart and mind, He will know your weaknesses and sinful desires, and He will understand the great temptation. But He will reward those who put their faith into action and deny their sin.