Footlights Devotionals

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ...you will be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:25-28 (NIV)

January 31, 2010

Last week was the 10 month anniversary of my open-heart surgery. On March 26, my physician reached inside of me and repaired my physical heart. In these verses, God, the Great Physician, offers me something even better-a transplant of a new spiritual heart! He explains what the surgery involves. He wants to remove my lifeless, petrified heart that is cold toward Him and His Word, and replace it with a warm, living heart, beating with the desire to love, honor, and obey Him.

As an open-heart surgery patient, I had to learn and remember not to live as if I still had a defective heart. I had to follow the lead of my healthy heart and do the things I formerly couldn't. My healthy heart wants to walk, to run, to climb mountains.

When I came to Christ, God put a new whole heart within me, and I need to follow it. Rather than give in to the habits that came from my old dead heart, I can learn to do the things my new heart wants to do. Following its motivation, I will "walk in His ways" (Deut. 30:16 NIV), I will "run in the path of [His] commands" (Ps. 119:32 NIV), and I will "ascend the hill of the Lord" (Ps. 24:3 NIV). It's time to live out the results of my spiritual heart-transplant, and "follow the Lord my God wholeheartedly" (Joshua 14:8 NIV)!

PRAYER

Father God, Thank you for Your healing work in me. Thank you that when I came to You for salvation, You removed my cold, dead heart of stone and gave me a living heart that beats with love for You and for Your commands. Help me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, always to live like someone who's been given a new heart, and a new life: always to live in a way pleasing to you. Amen.

Zondervan Publishing, "Passage Lookup - New International Version", BibleGateway