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

 

What would we do without a heart? What would we be without a heart? Whether meant literally or figuratively, don’t we already know the answer?

 

Beating a hundred thousand times a day, and around two and a half to three billion times in an average lifetime, our hearts never rest, and yet they keep us alive. Not only that – we believe our emotions flow from our hearts, and that our state of being is affected by how we respond to them. In ancient Israel, this awareness extended to the whole inner self – mind, will and morals. However we see it, when our hearts are happy, we’re happy. But does that mean we are right with God?

 

Solomon recognised that a person’s actions reflect what is in their heart, and understood the importance of a person of integrity keeping the two in alignment. Of the heart he said, “... everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23) and warned us to “guard your heart”. The verse that follows recognises our power to discern right from wrong and to choose accordingly; he advises, “Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” (Proverbs 4:24)

 

Very often it starts with insinuation, then the bending of the truth, then the thrill of a forbidden secret being told, resulting in the tantalising passing on of gossip – all things that go against the commandments to love God and love our neighbour, and against others besides – setting off the wildfire that James speaks of in his letter.

 

So what had happened to God’s people that their hearts hardened to such a degree that he vowed to replace them with a heart of flesh?

 

Quite simply, idolatry was at the heart of it all.

 

In the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, Jesus speaks of the “poor in spirit”, “those who mourn”, “the meek”, “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”, “the merciful”, “the pure in heart”, “the peacemakers”, and “the persecuted”, calling them blessed. They are clearly the ones who show the spiritual sensitivity that the “heart of flesh” characterises: tenderness, mercy, a love of peace, a willingness to stand for what is right, and responsiveness to God – all qualities that had been eroded away in the Israelites.

 

The Beatitudes are a portrait of what a heart looks like once it’s been made new, and is exactly what God promised his exiled people: not better behaviour, but a heart altogether transformed. A soft heart, humble enough to mourn over sin, hunger for righteousness and show mercy, is not possible with willpower alone – it requires complete surrender. We can only bring him the heart we have, however hardened, and let him do what only he can do.

 

Prayer: Gracious Lord, search my hard heart today. Remove my stubbornness or resistance to your will. Please give me a heart of flesh – tender, merciful and truly yours. Amen