When you keep tripping over the same sins—anger, sarcasm, insecurity, thoughtlessness—it’s natural to wonder, “What is wrong with me?” In this post on Jeremiah 17:1–11, we trace that question beneath behavior and willpower to the deeper reality of a hard, diseased heart that cannot fix itself—and to the hope of a God who promises nothing less than a new heart through Christ. In this post, we explore:The difference between everyday failures and the deeper “character flaws” that won’t budge, no matter how many books you read or resolutions you makeWhat theologians call “total depravity”—not that we’re as bad as we could be, but that sin has touched every part of who we are: mind, will, emotions, and desiresJeremiah’s first image: sin engraved with an iron stylus on the tablet of the heart, and why that points to hardness, permanence, and a “broken chooser” that consistently picks sin over GodHow idolatry in Judah (and in our lives) leads God to hand people over to the very things they want, and why that is both judgment and a severe mercyThe desert bush and the well-watered tree: a vivid picture of trusting in human strength versus trusting in the Lord, and how sin is fundamentally relational—a turning away from God, not just rule-breakingWhy sin makes us blind to real life, leaving us barely surviving in a spiritual wasteland while faith draws living water even in seasons of droughtJeremiah’s diagnosis of the heart as “deceitful” and “desperately sick,” and what it means to see sin not just as bad choices, but as a deep, incurable disease apart from God’s interventionThe limits of behavior change, spiritual “techniques,” and even well-meant disciplines when they’re treated as a way to heal ourselves from the outside inGod’s promise of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36): a new heart, a new Spirit, and a law written on the heart rather than chiseled against itRichard Sibbes’ picture of Christ’s love as the only fire strong enough to melt an adamant heart—and the invitation to “live under the sunshine of the gospel” until our hearts grow soft and tender toward GodBy the end, you’ll have a more honest and hopeful answer to “What is wrong with me?”—and a clearer sense that the solution is not gritting your teeth, but receiving a heart only God can give. You’ll be invited to stop treating sin as a surface problem you can manage, to bring your hard places into the warmth of Christ’s love, and to trust that the God who exposes your heart is the same God who delights to make it new.Series: Questions Jeremiah AnsweredStart Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.Beginning February 4, join us for Season 27 of the podcast, Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast. Each episode walks through the Scripture behind the book.Visit StartStrongBook.org for more details. Support the show

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