Beginnings: Your New Heart

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8 (ESV)

Since Adam fell from God’s grace, mankind has suffered from spiritual heart disease.

  • 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?' (Jeremiah 17:9).

  • 'We are all as an unclean thing' (Isaiah 64:6).

  • 'Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins' (Ecclesiastes 7:20).*

But our Great Father, Who 'Looks at the heart' (1 Samuel 16:7), is the ultimate Cardiologist! He describes our ailing hearts as stony, evil, hard, dull, dark, deceitful, foolish, crooked, wandering, and impenitent. OUCH!

Through Ezekiel, He announced a transplant operation: 'I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh' (Ezekiel 36:26). His people would become compassionate.**

When a Pharisee named Nicodemus met secretly at night with the Healer, Jesus announced a new heart procedure:

'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' (John 3:3). 

This wondrous regeneration requires an ongoing connection to its Source: 'Give us this day our daily' communion is a spiritual dialysis.***

Actors, models, and talent for Christ:

As God’s new creations in media, note one evangelistic truth and three daily to-dos in 1 John 1… to keep your hearts clean in a dirty world:

One important truth: Even when we're born-again, we still sin. Saints who put on airs of perfection stink. 'Holier than thou' (Isaiah 65:5) reeks of corruption. Instead of attracting lost lambs and sheep, it repels, SO BE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR! Therein, you become, ‘Life leading to life’ (2 Corinthians 2:16),

3 heart-healthy habits from 1 John 1:

  1. ‘Walk in the light’ (1 John 1:7), as Jesus exampled. Be transparent. Stay active, and BE SEEN.

  2. ‘Have fellowship with one another’ (1 John 1:7). Stay connected to your faith family. We’re influenced by the friends we choose.

  3. ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:8-9). When you mess up (everyone does), fess up! Confess to God, and then, to each other.

Beginnings: Your New Heart (Part 12).

* 100 Bible Verses about hearts: What Does the Bible Say About Heart?

** 'We love others, we love everybody, we love our enemies, because He first loved us... And that is how the love of God melts down the unlovely heart in man, and begets in him the new creature, who is patient and humble and gentle and unselfish' (Henry Drummond): Love Begets Love

*** See the Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13 NASB - The Lord’s Prayer - “Pray, then, in - Bible Gateway

NOTE: God is my Ghostwriter. If what I write is good, it’s from God! We’re ALL called to be actors (action stars) for Jesus. We’re ALL called to models of Jesus, and we ALL have gifts, talents, and callings from God–  to multiply them in the world for His glory.

P.S. NO DEVOTION, PREACHER, or SERMON… can begin to replace personal time in the Bible. I wholeheartedly and clear-headedly recommend READING THE BIBLE DAILY.

WARNING: Don’t focus on favorite verses, because out of context, they’re often misinterpreted. I plead with you to READ AT LEAST 1 BIBLE CHAPTER DAILY. How long does it take? An average of 5 to 10 minutes!

Carey Arban