A HARDENED AND A SOFTENED HEART
Ezekiel 11:19
"And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,"
The surgeon explained that he had had the heart in his hand. It wasn't soft and subtle as it should have been. As a matter of fact it was hard and he had to make a choice... could he fix the valve that was already there, yes, but the heart was so hard that it would just fall apart or he could put a new value in place and it would be fresh and work well. The choice was easy, a new fresh valve to restore the heart to what it had been.
My friend had a lifetime of questionable choices that were now causing him problems. His heart was literally hard and not functioning as it should. This is the issue with not taking care of our hearts, the damage compounds over time and eventually the damage causes a hardening and a heart that will no longer move and work as it should.
The verse above Is one of the greatest and most beautiful verses in the Bible. It is talking to the Israelites, but it might as well be talking to us. This verse shows us what God wants to do in my heart and yours. The Jews had grown cold in their faith. There was no life in their hearts, and so they had become immovable and as hard as a rock. God was showing them what He was capable of doing and how He was going to do it to this rebellious nation.
There are many reasons that our hearts become hard. The key is to recognize when our heart gets this way, how to change it. If sins of bitterness have caused it, then we need to repent and forgive. If we have turned away from God and to idols such as money and things, we need to tear those down and get rid of them. Then God can change our heart from the harness that has taken over and He will pour in His Spirit, giving us a new softer heart, a heart that is alive once more.
God can revive and resuscitate a hard heart. He can make it soft and full of life again. If you are feeling distant from God, it may be because of a lifeless and hard heart. Go to Him in prayer today and ask Him to begin to renew and refresh your heart.
When your pray, you will find that those areas that are preventing your heart from working correctly will become front and center. Deal with them, removing what has been making your heart hard and move on. Don't look back. Move forward and let God do a new work in you, restoring the heart He had given you when you first came to Him.
A hardened heart Is like a tombstone, it marks a time when there was a good life. A softened heart is like a diary, it is a record of ongoing life and love.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, oh God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
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