HOW TO GET A NEW HEART

Good morning everyone.

 

Here is today's Bible lesson:

 

HOW TO GET A NEW HEART

 

READ:

Ezekiel 36:26-31

 

I will give you a new heart and put

a new spirit within you. -Ezekiel 36:26

 

A friend who is a heart transplant cardiologist has an appreciation of Ezekiel 36:26 that not many of us can understand.  Mike manages the pre-operation and post-operation care for heart-transplant patients.  He's often in the operating room as surgeons remove diseased, discolored hearts and replace them with vibrant, pink "new" donor hearts.

 

Mike explains that the process for selecting who gets a "new" physical heart is similar to who can get a "new heart" from God (Ezekiel 36:26). In both cases, need alone is the criterion.

 

Ezekiel's mention of the people of Israel someday getting a "new heart"  is a foreshadowing of the change that takes place at salvation.  Ephesians 4:24 and 2 Corinthains 5:17 refere to it as "a new man"  and new creation."  For the Israelites of Ezekiel's day and for those of us living today, only one criterion must be met for us to acquire a "transplant."  We must need it.  It matters not whether we're rich or poor, respected or scorned.  Citizenship, social status, and ethnicity are inconsequential.  If we need a new heart from God, we can have one through faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

 

What indicates that need?  As sinners, all of us need a new heart.  Have you had a spiritual heart transplant? -Dave Branon

 

Christ asks you for nothing-

Come just as you are;

Come sinful, come guilty,

Come give Him your heart. -Anon.

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We need more than a new start-

we need a new heart!

 

INSIGHT

Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, prophesied hope to the Jews even as the Babylonians plundered Jerusalem.  In the midst of the devastation and death, God promises restoration and a bright future when His people will repent of their idolatry and when God will cleanse and purify them and make them into a holy nation.  This transformation will be from the inside out.  Only with a new heart and a new spirit will they have the ability to be holy (vv. 26-29), also 11:19-20).  This passage is the core of Ezekiel's vision.  Jeremiah too spoke of the new heart as a blessing of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:37-40).

 

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator's Love Always

Unity & Peace