A New Heart

I've been thinking about my skin. Now I'll admit I don't normally think about my skin that often - OK, never - but I've been thinking about how much our skin changes over our lifetime. A baby's skin is so soft and smooth and perfect. No scars or bumps or wrinkles or blemishes. It hasn't been affected by the wind and sun or the rough and tumble of life. And then I look at mine. Like most people over 40, our skin just isn't what it used to be. It's full of lines and scars and blemishes. And the thing is, there is nothing I can do to go back and restore it to the way it was. I can try different creams and lotions and even surgery if I get desperate, but it is what it is. Maybe I can make some minor improvements, but I can't change it. The skin I was born with started to decay and die the minute I came into the world.

Our life is a like that, too. The prophet Jeremiah put it this way:

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil." - Jeremiah 13:23

We've all sinned, and that sin has created scars and blemishes on the inside. And no matter what we do we can't change it. We can even want desperately to change. We can read all the self-help books we can find to try and improve ourselves. We can make lifestyle changes like going to church or quitting smoking. Maybe I can make some minor improvements, but I can't change who I am on the inside. The person I am was born dead in sin - accustomed to doing evil. As Jeremiah said, the same way a man can't change his skin, neither can he change his nature from evil to good.

But the good news is that God isn't interested in just changing or improving me. He wants something far different. He wants to create me again. He wants a new man.

Jesus tried to explain this to Nicodemus.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. - John 3:3-6

With my new birth I get everything new, not just re-furbished. But greater than that is the fact that this new life isn't like my old one. Paul said it this way:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. - 2Corinthians 5:17

I have a new mind. (1 Corinthians 2:16).

I have a new spirit. (Ezekiel 36:27)

I have a new life. (John 14:6)

I have a new heart. (Ezekiel 11:19)

The reality of this new heart really came home to me over the last few days. My father-in-law had open heart surgery. They did two bypasses and a valve replacement and he is doing great. But no matter how good a job they did - it is not a new heart. And eventually over time it will decay and run down just like all other human hearts always have. But with my new birth I've been given a different type of heart.

"Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart." - Jeremiah 24:7

I have been given a new heart - but this new heart is not like my old one. It is not a heart that is born to sin. It is a heart that is set apart to God - a heart born to holiness.