Picture: Counsel #22 — Impulse CI 24.1
Being made in the image of God doesn’t mean that every natural impulse we feel is automatically good. If we were like Adam and Eve before sin entered the world, our thoughts, desires, and instincts would naturally reflect God’s goodness—just as theirs did before the fall. But now, we live in a world where sin has distorted His image, and along with it, our impulses. CI 24.2
After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their natural impulses changed. Unfortunately, we inherited those same desires. Because of our sinful natures, not every feeling, desire, or instinct comes from God, and that’s where the enemy comes in. The devil knows we’re made in God’s image, and he hates it. Attempting to destroy any trace of spirituality within us, he whispers lies like “If it feels right, it must be right.” Society leads with a “follow your heart” motto, but the Bible says our hearts are wicked and deceitful. We can’t trust our hearts or desires until we let God transform them and choose to be “partakers of God’s divine nature.”[23]2 Peter 1:4 When we surrender to Him, He will begin reshaping us from the inside out. Over time, as we live surrendered to God, our impulses will change and reflect the fruits of the Spirit, and not the desires of the world.[24] https://stewardship.adventist.org/back-to-the-altar-of-living-and-dying CI 24.3
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 NIV CI 24.4
“All defects of character originate in the heart.” Ellen White in Our High Calling , p. 336 CI 24.5
Reflect: Do you compare your desires with God’s Word? CI 24.6
