"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
In 2012, Emily and Jacques Rancourt came across a Facebook post of a little girl from Mongolia with pigtails and a major heart heart defect and decided to adopt her. Lily Grace, as she was named, was born with a heart half the size it should be, upside down, and on the wrong side of her body (hypoplastic left heart syndrome) and was in desperate need of a new one. While awaiting a transplant and enduring numerous open heart surgeries, Lily said, "I thought about running all the time because I couldn’t get out of my hospital bed. I could see people run and play but never got to do it myself. I wanted to be able to run with my sisters, not just watch them run and have fun.” Thanks to her new heart though, Lily completed her first 5k on her own saying, "I want to run longer. Maybe like a half marathon." Talk about the life-changing effects of a new heart!
You know, many people today have a major heart defect and are in need of a transplant too. Because of disobedience, habitual sin and a refusal to follow God, their hearts have become calloused and stubborn. Google Dictionary actually defines the condition as a stern or cruel nature. But you see, God didn't design us to have a stern or cruel nature or a stony heart. He designed us to have a tender, kind and responsive heart, just like His. And that's why He wants to take every "heart of stone" and replace it with a "heart of flesh" and "put a new spirit", or a new nature, in all those willing to accept it. He wants to change peoples’ lives!
So if you're honest and did a heart check today, would you say your heart is healthy? How about those of the people around you? Is there someone you need to pray for? Someone in need of a heart transplant? If you answered yes, I would urge you to pray for them my friend. It could very well change their lives.
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you would promise to personally perform the sanctifying surgery that many that have let their hearts grow hard so desperately need. May they see their need for a new heart today and cry out to you to receive it. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
Give us clean hands - Chris Tomlin
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