Heart Transplant - You Have a New Heart!
"You will show me the path of life..." Psalms 16:11. Only Father can show us the path of life - the way of true life - the way of living from our heart. But for many, the enemy has set up a roadblock to keep us from making much progress down this road.
One of the biggest roadblocks that the enemy has set up along the way of life is the widespread belief among many Christians that their heart is desperately wicked - even after they have come to Christ. I mean after all, isn't it in the Bible? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
But wait just a minute - is that verse written about Christians or about people who have not yet given their lives over to God's control? This makes a huge difference - an essential difference, because if we believe that our hearts are still wicked and evil even after we have come to Christ we will never experience the kind of abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
There is no question that before we came to Christ, the problem was not just with our behavior; the problem was with our hearts. Our hearts were cold, hard, evil and full of darkness. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultries, fornications, thefts..." Matthew 15:19
But God's answer for our heart problem is not a just a cosmetic procedure: not just a makeover - a little nip and tuck job. Why? Because the problem is much deeper than the surface; it goes to the core of our being, to who we really are, to our heart.
His solution to our heart problem is radical surgery - a heart transplant. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them." Ezekiel 36:26-27.
The result of this procedure is that you don't just look a little different; you are totally changed. Who you are is different - because at the core of your being - your heart, you are different. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" 1 Corinthians 5:17
You are no longer who you were, with a heart that is despartely wicked; you have a new heart and that heart is good because it is made in His image and likeness.
The way to make real progress along the path to life is to destroy the roadblock that the enemy has put in your way by telling you that your heart is still wicked and evil. The truth is that your heart is new and it is good because God took your old heart out and gave you a new one. In surgery, when we do a transplant, we don't leave the old heart in and add a new one - the old one is removed and replaced with a new one.
You have had a heart transplant; and your new heart is good.
