A New Heart

-

Scripture
 
Ezekiel 36:26 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. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

Observation

The peoples’ hearts had become like stone. They were rigid and inflexible when it came to their relationship with God. Nothing came out of a passion for the Lord, but rather out of strict and possibly, reluctant obedience. The prophecy was about a future time in which all of that would change. A heart-transplant, so to speak, would occur. A new heart and a new spirit would change everything. The motivations and the desires of the heart would be for the things of God, because the spirit of God will have brought new life.  The result would be a fresh new heart capable of falling in love with a holy God.

Application

It’s time for all of us to fall in love with Jesus. Our spiritual life isn’t supposed to be something rigid or difficult, but it’s supposed to be a relationship in which we continually draw closer to our Lord. There should be no stoniness about it — no rigidity. Instead, we are to be overcome with holy love which begins to infuse us and bring new life.

It’s so easy to become rigid about things that we may define as spiritual. Jesus was continually pushing the boundaries and trying to help the religious leaders see beyond the bounds of their religious laws. They were inflexible and even willing for people to suffer for the sake of the law. (For example not wanting Jesus to heal on the Sabbath) Jesus was ushering in a new era in which the law would be fulfilled by the presence of the Spirit in the hearts and lives of believers. Instead of suffering under the rigidity of following a list of rules, the love of God was to flow out of their hearts as they desired to know Christ. The result was a holiness much more profound than they had experienced by simply living under the law. The holiness of the disciples after the day of Pentecost was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. They were participating in the powerful work of Jesus through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

A new heart awaits all of those who call upon Jesus. The empowering of the Holy Spirit transforms and fills us with holy love and a desire for the things of God.

Prayer

Lord, I pray that your presence fills me to overflowing today and that my heart is filled with your love. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more