Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
This scripture stood out to me in our nightly Bible reading this week. To understand the meaning of the scripture, we have to look at it in context. In the book of Ezekiel, we read about the perilous state of the Israelites. They had been turning away from God for far too long. They were chasing foreign gods instead of the one true God. They had multiple kings who were evil in the sight of the Lord except for a good righteous king every once in a while. The whole nation had become spiritually dead. Oh how this must have disappointed God. Because of the people had turned their back on God and drifted so far away, they were being sent off to a period of captivity with the Babylonians and Assyrians. Although God was placing them in a period of captivity, He continued to promise that he would bring them back and transform their hearts.
If we fast forward to present day, we look at the perilous state that we find ourselves in once again. I look around and I see that much of this world seems to be spiritually dead. Everyone is living in a world of doing whatever they must do to make themselves happy. It’s all about “me” rather than being about God. Evil is no longer considered evil if it feels good. We may not be worshipping false gods, but people are worshipping everything but God, and I fear that God is getting disappointed once again. Even in this perilous state that we find ourselves in currently, we don’t have to lose hope. We can still stand on that same promise God made to the people of Israel. God can still take hearts of stone and transform them into new hearts. God has a desire to change His people. He desires a close connection with His children, and He wants to transform us. In fact, Christ is the only one who can transform us.
Christ can bring the spiritually dead back to life to live in fullness with Him. After He transforms our old stony hearts into new hearts, He puts his Spirit within us. This is when the magic occurs. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we begin to willingly walk with Christ. We want to live a righteous life. We want to follow the path that Christ has designed for us. We recognize sins in our life, and we repent and walk away from those sins. He puts within a a desire to be obedient. We can truly walk in an newness of life.
Christ loves us so much that He continuously seeks us out. He loves us so much that He can take an old hard, stony, stubborn heart, and He can make it new. He can change our hard hearts into tender and responsive hearts…hearts that respond to Him. Isn’t that amazing? The love Christ has for His children continuously amazes me! I’m so thankful for His love and patience, and I’m so thankful that He gave me a new, tender responsive heart! Let Him break down those stony walls around your heart today!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 