Heart Transplant
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”—Ezekiel 36:26
God is all about the heart. It is the center of one’s being where mind, will and emotion converge; as the Proverb says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”—Proverbs 4:23 (NIV). Jesus was immensely concerned about the heart. Time and time again, when He was confronted by the legalistic hypocrites of His day, He would turn the tables on their behavior, thus revealing the state of a black and evil heart. For Him, it wasn’t the external conformity to the Law of God that was as important as the attitude of the heart. You might be able to paint the exterior of an old house and make it look great from the outside, but if the structure of the house is termite-ridden and rotten, then it doesn’t matter how the exterior looks. When our hearts are right, then what is on the outside is going to change, but if we attempt to change from the outside in, rather than from the inside out, we have become the worst of sinners—legalists who attempt to justify ourselves as righteous and clean in the sight of God.
Our passage for today was written to the nation of Israel during a very bleak time. They had rebelled against God, choosing to worship false gods, living life on their own terms, spurning God’s direction and Lordship over their lives, so that God gave them over to what they wanted, which resulted in their being removed from the land of promise and exiled in a pagan and unbelieving land. While in exile, Ezekiel prophesies of a time in the future when God will give Israel a new heart and new spirit in the coming kingdom of God. It would be a time inaugurated with Christ’s first coming, when He came to live among men. But, it was after His death, resurrection and ascension that God would send His Holy Spirit to live in us, empowering us to live according to God’s laws. Man was unable to seek God by himself and do what God required. What was needed was a spiritual heart transplant. Our spiritual hearts are “deceitful and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9) and out from them comes “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander”—Matthew 15:19. The only problem is that we can’t perform spiritual heart surgery on ourselves, any more than we can perform physical heart surgery. What was needed is the divine surgeon to intercede and give us a new heart and a new spirit to follow Him! And this He did!
When a man or woman places his or her trust in Christ, they are transformed. God gives His Holy Spirit to enter into our bodies, whereby we are taught the things of God and have a new heart and will, set to do what His Word says. God has given us a new heart! We are no longer slaves to the sins of our past or to the old ways we have lived our life! We have the ability, by God’s grace and at His initiative, to do what He wants us to do as we continually submit ourselves to the authority of His Word!
My brother or sister, please don’t give into the lie that you can never change. By yourself, you can’t, but when God enters into your life and you have repented of your sins and believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) with new desires and a new inclination and power to do what glorifies Him!
I pray that God may tattoo this truth onto your heart. May you walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), continually “renewing your mind” (Romans 12:2), so that you might do what gives God glory and increases your joy. Amen.
God is all about the heart. It is the center of one’s being where mind, will and emotion converge; as the Proverb says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”—Proverbs 4:23 (NIV). Jesus was immensely concerned about the heart. Time and time again, when He was confronted by the legalistic hypocrites of His day, He would turn the tables on their behavior, thus revealing the state of a black and evil heart. For Him, it wasn’t the external conformity to the Law of God that was as important as the attitude of the heart. You might be able to paint the exterior of an old house and make it look great from the outside, but if the structure of the house is termite-ridden and rotten, then it doesn’t matter how the exterior looks. When our hearts are right, then what is on the outside is going to change, but if we attempt to change from the outside in, rather than from the inside out, we have become the worst of sinners—legalists who attempt to justify ourselves as righteous and clean in the sight of God.
Our passage for today was written to the nation of Israel during a very bleak time. They had rebelled against God, choosing to worship false gods, living life on their own terms, spurning God’s direction and Lordship over their lives, so that God gave them over to what they wanted, which resulted in their being removed from the land of promise and exiled in a pagan and unbelieving land. While in exile, Ezekiel prophesies of a time in the future when God will give Israel a new heart and new spirit in the coming kingdom of God. It would be a time inaugurated with Christ’s first coming, when He came to live among men. But, it was after His death, resurrection and ascension that God would send His Holy Spirit to live in us, empowering us to live according to God’s laws. Man was unable to seek God by himself and do what God required. What was needed was a spiritual heart transplant. Our spiritual hearts are “deceitful and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9) and out from them comes “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander”—Matthew 15:19. The only problem is that we can’t perform spiritual heart surgery on ourselves, any more than we can perform physical heart surgery. What was needed is the divine surgeon to intercede and give us a new heart and a new spirit to follow Him! And this He did!
When a man or woman places his or her trust in Christ, they are transformed. God gives His Holy Spirit to enter into our bodies, whereby we are taught the things of God and have a new heart and will, set to do what His Word says. God has given us a new heart! We are no longer slaves to the sins of our past or to the old ways we have lived our life! We have the ability, by God’s grace and at His initiative, to do what He wants us to do as we continually submit ourselves to the authority of His Word!
My brother or sister, please don’t give into the lie that you can never change. By yourself, you can’t, but when God enters into your life and you have repented of your sins and believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) with new desires and a new inclination and power to do what glorifies Him!
I pray that God may tattoo this truth onto your heart. May you walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), continually “renewing your mind” (Romans 12:2), so that you might do what gives God glory and increases your joy. Amen.
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