A NEW HEART

Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”

The problem with giving into temptation over and over again is that it begins to be a habit – like a wagon that make ruts in a road it becomes easier and easier to just stay in the rut and continue to give in. This is where we find Judah and Jerusalem in the time of Ezekiel. They have gotten into a rut of sin, extreme promiscuity, idol worship, child sacrifice, and oppression of the poor and the weak.They have become so bad that God finally has to remove them from the land he has promised them. Although God has cast his judgment upon them, he tells them that his judgment will not last forever. One day he will restore them to the land that he promised them. This prophecy is fulfilled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. God uses the pagan kings Cyrus and Artaxerxes to send the Jewish people back to Jerusalem and the land.God also knows that even if Israel returns to him and serves him once again, it won’t be too long before the pull to sin and other gods begins again. So along with the promise of a return to the land, he gives them this promise of a heart transplant. No longer will their hearts be hard and cold to his love, but he will give them a heart of flesh that will respond to his love, and love him in return. He will give them a heart that actually wants to obey his ways.

When God’s Spirit takes a hold of us he gives us the desire to obey, and the power to fulfill those desires and actually obey him and do what he wants. But we need to walk with the Spirit, or our hearts can begin to harden once again. When we come to Christ, his Spirit helps us to want the right and to do it, but he doesn’t take our will away. If we want to we can resist the Spirit and continue to behave badly.

There is a story of an elder who had come to faith in Jesus, and he described the struggle to a younger man by saying, “It feels like there are two dogs fighting inside of me.” The young man asked, “which dog wins?” The older man replied “Which ever one I feed?” Which dog are you feeding? Are you feeding the things of the Spirit in your life, or are you feeding the things of the sinful nature? Are you spending time in prayer, Scripture reading, Christian fellowship & worship? Or are you spending time satisfying your sinful nature.

God gives us this new heart that is not hard so that it can actually respond to him. Maybe you have experienced this yourself. Perhaps, there was a time in your life when you had no interest in spiritual things, but at some point your heart became alive to the good news and you began your journey back to God through Jesus. The key is to keep your focus on the condition of the new heart you have been given. Don’t allow the circumstances you face to hardened your heart and change your perspective. Stay sensitive to him and he will always guide you.