Replacing a heart of stone - Aug 20
“I will remove your stony heart from your body and replace it with a living one.”
All the efforts and intentions to be a caring, loving, non-judgemental, and welcoming presence eventually run headlong into anger, greed, and jealousy, whether expressed outwardly or simply festering within.
Weighed down with these hearts of stone gravity eventually gets the best of us and we sink in the mire of judgemental and corrosive thoughts, words, and actions. We want to run the good race all the way to glory land, but all we can do is stumble and groan as our chest cavity rattles and rumbles.
How did this heart which began so full of life become so calcified, brittle, and hard? Perhaps not enough exercising of the gifts of the spirit has caused this vital organ to turn on us. We’ve become lethargic spiritual couch potatoes looking for easy answers that don’t ask anything of us. Eventually our petrified hearts can no longer sustain life.
But we worship a God of resurrection and new life who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Over time our bodies have reshaped themselves around this heavy and hard heart and so removing it does not happen without some pain and discomfort. A familiar burden is often easier than an unfamiliar freedom.
The new living heart of flesh reinvigorates the whole body.
Blood is coursing through the veins again.
Limbs are strong again.
The voice is clear again and sings songs of worship to the God of love and new life.