Heart of Flesh

 

I have treated many patients for heart failure over the years. This occurs when the heart no longer is able to pump sufficient blood to the rest of the body. As you might imagine, it’s a serious disease. Despite our best medical therapies, almost half the patients with heart failure die within 5 years of diagnosis. Sometimes this occurs at a very young age due to a virus or some other condition which attacks the heart muscle. Under these circumstances,  people have undergone heart transplants in order to survive.

 

God has been doing heart transplants long before our doctors learned to do them.  “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” (Ez 36:26). This is a gift from God to all Christians through the intercession of the Holy Spirit.

 

We can damage our physical hearts by our poor lifestyle choices. In the same way, we can harden our spiritual hearts by the way we live. We will over time find it harder to draw near to God the longer we live in opposition to Him. For most of us, it’s more likely that we may have only one or two areas in our lives that we refuse to let God into, areas where we may find ourselves hardening.

 

No matter what condition our heart is in, God stands ready to restore us if we repent and return to Him. King David committed murder and adultery but he repented and was forgiven. Psalm 51 is David’s beautiful prayer of contrition. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Ps 51:10-12).