Newness!

Newness!

Ezekiel 36:26 KJV

[26] A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

The background to the verse above helps us know the mind of God at the time. Israel was the chosen people of God, had been given a land flowing with milk and honey, and they had settled in the land for generations. However, like all things human, familiarity, a sense of entitlement and short memories had made Israel forget all that God had done for them. They forsook God and went after idols and strange gods. They abandoned the One who had brought them this far, and went after the desires and distractions of the nations around them. Of course, God was angry, and in line with His express commands, He applied the just punishment for their rebellion and disobedience. Let it be known today that God has no favourites when it comes to sin, and He will punish sin no matter in whom it is found. He does not condone it; He will not overlook it. The price He paid for it shows his heart. 

Israel had been punished; many of the people found themselves in strange lands. In fact, some of the people found themselves in lands that had been previously defeated by Israel. Picture the shame and disgrace of being at the mercy of a nation that you had previously conquered. That is what sin looks like: it robs you of your place in God, allows the devil oppress you, and the weight of your past becomes a burden that prevents you from accessing all that God has made available. This is why sin must be avoided at all cost. God also wants to provide the means and the resources required to live above the dictates and power of sin. As you read the verses just before the one above, you get a picture into the mind of God for all who are His own. His love is amazing; his heart seeks to supply all that I need to be victorious over sin. 

That is the message of the verse above: He is the only One who can do a work in me that will speak for all of eternity. There is a nature of sin that is acquired at birth that will never be changed. It has to be taken out. It cannot be reformed or transformed; it has to be put to death. This is the only way that the new heart can be put in place. As long as the old nature is in charge, the new heart that God wants to install cannot be put in place. God is willing to do the work of the inner change, and He wants to replicate Himself in me. He is the One who can surgically remove that which leads to death, and also surgically insert that which leads to eternal life. The stony heart is one that cannot respond to that which God wants to do, which is why it must go. The heart of flesh is one that can be written on. God wants to do a work in me, but ny heart must be ready for that which is ahead. Which heart do you have: stony or fleshy? God's time of favour is here.