Why look in there?

The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked: 
who can know it?   
I the LORD search the heart, 
I try the reins, 
even to give every man according to his ways, 
and according to the fruit of his doings.  Jeremiah 17:9-10

The illogical theological system that Calvin and his type concocted in response to their love for Augustine led them to draw stupid conclusions that they passed on for later generations of Christianity to explore.  People in the Dutch lands where the tulip grows most beautifully fell in love with Calvin and honored him with the T-U-L-I-P acronym that outlines the calvinist system.  The T stands for total depravity.  The calvinist types believe that man became utterly wicked when Eve ate figs in the garden and passed them on to Adam.  In their explanation of what mankind became, they grab for verses such as Jeremiah 17:9 to prove their case.  At first glance, it does seem to give credibility to their way of thinking.

 It is possible that we "Jesus above all else" believers would have to yield the floor to the augustinian/calvinist school of thinking if it weren't for the beauty of verse 10 that destroys the T of the TULIP.  If calvinist prophets are correct, then why is Jesus poking around in the human heart?  What is He in search of if, in His divine omnipotence (calvinists love to distract people from simple truth by using big words and grandiose notions to reinvent reality), He cannot remember that all humans are TOTALLY wicked.  You see, there is a difference between desperately wicked and TOTALLY wicked.  God knows the difference between desperate and total and, since He knows that depravity is not total, He visits His creation to offer a gift that will stir the heart of desperate humanity.

The heart of every human person was designed by God and built to respond to love.  The human capacity to love was not destroyed by sin and God considered that it was best to put Himself into His creation (Jesus is God) so that He could raise a banner to rally us to His Ultimate Love.  At the Cross of Calvary, God closed the deal on His pre-foundation of the world plan to draw the hearts of mankind to Him.  Having "John Three Sixteened" us all, He left us without excuse, knowing that we can only avoid the love of the Cross by deliberately closing our hearts to Him and investing that love in a foolish system.

The angels shouted and sang to humanity at the birth of Jesus.  God shouts and sings to us from the cross of the Unfailing Love that can heal every desperate heart.

Come to the Cross.