I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. – Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
Have you ever heard the expression ‘a heart of stone’?
It’s used to describe someone who is inflexible, cold, or cruel-natured and who doesn’t respond to the emotions or suffering of others.
Do you know anyone like that? I do… Me 🫢
Well, maybe not fully, I wouldn’t describe myself as cold-hearted or emotionless. But my point is that we all have hardened hearts.
It seems almost impossible to live in this world without experiencing some amount of heart-hardening.
We have all experienced heartbreak or hurt. Perhaps you’ve been betrayed or cheated on? Maybe bullied or discriminated? Rejected or insulted? Let alone the pain and suffering we see around us. The unrelenting amount of injustice, sickness, poverty and abuse we witness daily, simply happening right in front of our noses.
The point is that before we know it, knowingly or unknowingly, we harden our hearts to protect them.
But God has a better solution in store for us:
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 36:26 NIV
Instead of shielding your heart from pain by hardening it, God encourages you to keep it alive, beating with love and compassion for the world around you.
And each time you realise parts of your heart have turned to stone, you can simply come to Him to exchange it for new, healthy flesh.
And not only a new heart, but God also wants to give you a new spirit:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. – 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
A heart of flesh and a spirit of love and power, doesn’t that sound so much better than a heart of stone and a spirit of fear to get hurt?
Turn your hurt and fears over to God today and let Him renew your heart and your spirit from within.
