February 13, 2021
It is the Valentine’s Day season, and the stores are filled with hearts to give to our Sweethearts. We typically visualize hearts in a pretty red shape. ❤️ Yet we know that our physical heart does not have the same appearance. Our physical heart is a muscular organ that pumps the blood through our body giving us life and breath. It is truly amazing how God created our hearts, they keep beating in a sinus rhythm without us making any conscious effort. If the heart is diseased or it goes out of its sinus rhythm, it can affect our entire body. I personally have experienced the feeling of having my heart go out of its sinus rhythm. It was a scary experience. Heart disease, according to the World Health Organization, is the leading cause of death across the globe. Our heart is the core of our physical life. Apart from the successful use of medication, CPR or a defibrillator, if our heart stops beating, we die. With our heart being the core sustainer of our physical life, it seems appropriate that God would refer to our heart as the core of our spiritual life and it is the cause of spiritual death.
In the Scripture, God tells us the condition of our heart and according to God’s Word, we ALL have heart disease! The cause of this heart problem that we all have is sin. Romans 3:23 we read, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Our hearts are so diseased that we cannot even trust ourselves. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Before the worldwide flood back in Noah’s day we learn in Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” When we understand the condition of the heart in mankind, is it any wonder that the world has so much evil? Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
The Bible says we are dead in our sins unless the Holy Spirit of God awakens us to Himself. Our good deeds cannot save us. Our acts of kindness will not earn us a new heart. We are at the mercy of our Creator God. Likened to an inventor making a flashlight, in order for the flashlight to execute what it is designed to do, it needs a power source, the battery. In order for us to live in obedience to the will of God and accomplish what we were created for, we need a new heart, the Holy Spirit of God giving us the power to perform. (Ephesians 2:4-10) God through His Son Jesus Christ has given us the way to receive a new heart. With this new heart comes new life and new thinking. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
When the Holy Spirit illumines us to Himself, we are transformed. Jesus explained it to a Pharisee named Nicodemus in the manner of being born again. He said that we cannot even comprehend the Kingdom of God unless we are spiritually new. He used the analogy of the wind. We cannot see the wind, but we see the effect it has on things. We cannot see the Holy Spirit but we see how the Lord transforms a sinner’s life. (John 3:1-17)
In Ezekiel 36:26-27 we read, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” This is a prophecy of what the Holy Spirit of God did through Jesus Christ. Written about 600 years before Jesus came and fulfilled it. What a wonderful Savior we have! He frees us from sin! He makes us NEW! Praise the Lord!
Those of us who already have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, sometimes we can get discouraged when we see the darkness and evil in the world compounding. Romans 8:37-39 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We are more than conquers! We are children of the King! We have a new heart beating royal blood through our veins. The power of God lives in us! Be reminded this Valentine season, when you see all the pretty red and pink hearts, that you contain a new heart within you. You have a brand-new battery. The majestic beauty of Christ has permeated your soul, let HIM shine!
For those of you reading this that have not received a new heart. You are terminal, but there is hope and there is life to be found in Christ alone. I urge you to click on the “Do You Know Jesus?” link located in the menu on this website. There you can learn how to receive a brand-new heart. Please contact me if you want to talk with someone.
Scriptures For Further Study:
1 Samuel 16:7, Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 51, Psalm 119:11, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 4:20-23, Proverbs 21:2, Proverbs 28:13-14, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 17:10, Matthew 5:8, Matthew 22:37, Acts 8:21-22, Romans 3:10-11, Romans 5:1-12, Colossians 1:20-22, Colossians 2:13, Hebrews 4:12, Hebrews 10:22
In Times Like These 