– September 2, 2020-
Good morning, happy Wednesday,
-The Greatest Heart Transplant Ever-
“Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”
(Ezekiel 11:19-20).
On December 3,1967, surgeon Christian Bernard and his team performed the first heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. The recipient was 53 year old Louis Washkanaky. Since that time to the present many have been done with both human hearts and artificial ones. With great advancement in medical technology patients are living longer after the surgery.
As great as these medical procedures are, they cannot compare to the spiritual heart transplants we read of here in Ezekiel chapter 11. Only God can transform a human heart of stone into a new heart of flesh. Our hearts that were once defiled by sin are now righteous and holy through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
The hearts we were born with were devoid of God. Our hearts are described in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” Our old heart cannot be repaired, it must be replaced with a new one. When we are born again, we have new life in Christ; this includes a new nature, a new covenant, a new kingdom, a new creation, and yes, a new heart. Our hearts that once beat only for ourselves now beats for God and others. Only the Great Physician Jesus Christ can do this. We now give our hearts fully to Him.
The old stony heart of rebellion, wickedness, evil, and sin is gone; our new heart is created in holiness, righteousness, and truth. God promised a new heart to Israel in our text just as He does to believers in Christ. The new heart causes us to walk in obedience to His statutes and judgments. We who were once not the people of God are now the people of God.
The heart is the seat of the emotions. It governs our thoughts, desires, motives, and actions. Even with our new nature we still have the old nature as well. There is the daily battle between the two natures. May God give us the victory over the flesh. Our new heart and nature wants to please God and do His will; the old heart and nature wants to sin and do our own will.
May we follow impulses and desires that Christ has given us. Let us seek to please Him, honor Him, obey Him, and serve Him today. We pray that He will direct our hearts in His Word and in prayer to guide us in the way we should go. Praise God the stony heart is replaced with a heart of flesh. Let our hearts beat all for Jesus.
Have a blessed day with your heart guiding you in God’s will. Stay safe and healthy.
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 