I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (CSB)
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| From bible.com |
Have you ever met one of those people who seem to be rather cold? The ones who, when something bad happens, they seem very distant from it. Or maybe you know someone who seems to lack empathy for people they don't know. You would almost say they have a heart of stone. Like Pharaoh in Exodus, people's hearts are often cold and broken. Even God said that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17). Yet we put the heart as the center of our emotion. How can any good come from a place so cold?
God knows our hearts, he knows the good behind our selfishness. God is also a fantastic spiritual surgeon. He wants to remove our hearts of stone, put in a heart of flesh. A heart full of a new spirit. A heart filled with the most delicious fruits you can imagine. Love, joy peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we embrace these fruit of this new spirit God wants to put into us, we will have hearts of flesh.
Stone is not a comforting thing. Go hug a rock, you won't get anything back. But flesh is welcoming and warm. Now go hug your father, mother, sister, brother, or child. Go hug anyone who cares about you and feel how much better it is than stone. Now take that warmth you just got, all those good feelings of "The Fruit" and go share it with someone who might not have that comfort. You are the hands and feet and face of God in this world. God can break through any heart but you have to take him there first.
God, take this cold stone heart of mine and give me a heart for you and your people. Let me be the evidence of all that your grace can do for those nearest me.
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