Something New

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 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.
Ezekiel 36:25-26

In the course of a single week my husband and I became grandparents for the first time, I started new classes at school and one of our daughters moved with her husband out of our state, that is a lot of new for one week. 

As I was thinking about all the “new” in my personal life, I spent some time contemplating the cross of Christ. You see, as we read in this week’s passage God promised to cleanse the people of their sin and to give them a new heart. Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, the surrendering of His life for ours is God’s method of heart replacement.  

Left to our own devices, we would try to fill our lives with new stuff - cars, clothes, recipes, furniture, whatever. For a while, those things might make us feel better, might mask the tight feeling of a hardened heart - but the feeling will not last. The search for a heart replacement will continue in a sometimes vicious cycle. Only Jesus can cleanse us from what separates us from God. Only Jesus can give us the new heart we need. 

Best of all, because Jesus - the Son of God, paid the unfathomable price warranted by the cross, we can have a new heart as a gift. The remembrance of His death and the celebration of His resurrection will soon be here, so spend some time contemplating Jesus and the cross. 

If you haven’t already accepted the gift of a new heart, now could be the right time to get one. The new heart will not guarantee smooth sailing in this life, but it does make new our relationship with God, it grants us an abundant life that allows us to really love and it comes with a warranty that will last for eternity. 

A Prayer
Father, only You can make things new. Only You can make us new. Thank you for sending Your Son who willingly paid the price for our heart replacements. Help us to use our new hearts as you would have us use them. In the name of Jesus, the giver of new hearts, Amen.