January 10 - New Heart and a New Spirit

January 10 – New Heart and a New Spirit

“I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19)

“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31)

“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

Hearts of stone – immobile, unresponsive to God.

Hearts of flesh – tender, yielding, responsive to the Lord God Almighty.

The people of Israel had moved so far from God that they no longer cared to live within His will.  They knew what it was He asked of them, but they completely refused to be in fellowship with Him and to abide by the law that He had set up so that fellowship could occur.

The only thing that would transform them would be something supernatural, something that could only come from God.

These words were written just before the exile to Babylon.  God was at His wits end with His people. 

That supernatural event, that thing that could only come from God to transform the hearts and spirits of humanity was the coming of Jesus and even then, it took His sacrifice on the cross to make any transformation possible.

We can be the recipients of this incredible gift – a heart that is made tender by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.  God is the one who did this for us.  We don’t have to work to receive the gift, we simply have to accept it.

A tender heart … filled with love.  Transformation made possible by the gift of Jesus Christ.