Good Morning,
It feels good not to be getting dressed for work today and having the time to sit and enjoy a hot cup of Door County Chocolate Cherry Coffee. sometimes I feel like a rush through my days, and today I am not is a rush.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you and new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
This is a beautiful metaphor given to us in Ezekiel to show us what really happens when we let God transplant a new heart within us. In America we take a lot of pills to keep our hearts healthy and yet we do not alter our potato chip eating lifestyle. We count on a drug to keep our hearts and arteries from hardening. Today's verse is a metaphor for that of an unhealthy way of thinking. As we rely on pills to keep us healthier we really are not living healthy.
Now comes my point. Many people rely on church attendance or listening to a sermon on television to give us a peace about eternity or daily living. Both sources are good food for spiritual growth, but unless the heart of a man or woman has been softened by God the other two sources are really just placebos that we assume are all we need to have a heart that is right with God.
Only God can spiritually transplant a new heart into a man or woman where there is a heart of stone. Trying to become more loving, generous and kind through self-effort can never bring a heart of stone to life. Only God's gift of His presence can jump start a heart into a permanent change. God's spirit within you allows you or enables you to hear Him through His word as He leads you through decisions. You begin to see Him at work and His hand upon you as He moves through circumstances and to fulfill His plans for you. You begin to strive with Him to become the person He created you to be.
This transformation only takes place when we surrender our hearts to God through Jesus Christ and invite Him in and let Him change our hearts.
As pills mask the truth and we think we are living healthy when we just rely on the pills without making changes, we too are fooling ourselves if we think church attendance and listening to the radio or television can heal a heart of stone. The stone needs a heart transplant and then it beats best.
God bless,
Marty
No comments:
Post a Comment