Ezekiel 36:26-27. 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
What makes someone a Christian? One way to answer this question is to say that Christians have a new heart. The prophet Ezekiel puts it like this I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Wat does that mean? It means that without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our hearts are hard like stone. We don’t care about God or others. But with Jesus and the Holy Spirit we have a brand new heart. A real heart of flesh not stone. Now we do care about God and others. We care about being kind and sharing. We care about obeying God and doing what he says.
The Old Testament prophets showed us that we all have to be made new. The prophet Jeremiah said that everyone’s heart is “desperately sick.” That’s why we are all so selfish, we are born that way. And that’s why we all need a new heart, a new set of desires, a new “want to.”
Everyone has a “want to.” You’ve probably said “I don’t want to” to your parents (or at least you’ve thought it, be honest). The truth is we have all said “I don’t want to” to God. Maybe not out loud, but in our heart. Our stony heart. But when we receive the Holy Spirit, like they did on Pentecost, we get a new “want to.”
I want to listen to God.
I want to follow Jesus.
I want to love others and be kind like him.
The Apostle Paul says it this way in Romans:
Romans 6:17. But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart.
With the Holy Spirit and our new heart of flesh we can obey God from the heart, not just because we have to, or because we are afraid not to. With our new heart we can obey God because we love him.
And here’s the really cool thing: The new heart that we receive from the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ own heart. It’s his “want to.” Every Christian wants to do what Jesus wants to do. The Christian’s deepest desire is to obey. To follow our leader, Jesus. I know it may not seem like it all the time, but the new heart is beating inside of you, keeping you alive spiritually. Deep inside of you there is a desire to be like Jesus.
Learn to ask yourself, “What do I really want? And how does what I want point me to wanting Jesus?” Because in the end only Jesus will totally satisfy everything your new heart wants.
You: What are some of your selfish “want to’s?” “I want to ___.”
You with Jesus: By the Spirit, you have the desires of Jesus. Can you think of something you want that Jesus also wants?
Prayer: Father, I know I have a new heart because of the Holy Spirit in me, but sometimes I’m still very selfish. Please teach me how to want what Jesus wants, but mostly how to want Jesus. Amen.
TLICfamily 