Hearts

Do you know anyone who is hard hearted? How about someone soft hearted? I venture to say that you can point to both – and in some ways, it could be the same person.

God was speaking to His chosen people through Ezekiel when He said:

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20 KJV)

It was important enough to repeat:

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 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. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezekiel 36:25-27 KJV)

God spoke through Paul on this same subject:

Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3 KJV)

One of our church teachers gave Jesus’ example of the Parable of the Sower, likening the ground to our hearts. Stony ground equaled the hardened hearts that are easily offended by the word of God. Their hearts have built up a selfishly protective shield. The word is heard, received with joy but when it comes to giving up their selfishness, their heart hardens further.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. (Matthew 13:20-21 KJV)

It’s the soft heart, prepared to serve others, which brings forth fruit.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23 KJV)

Our hearts are very important to the Lord.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21 KJV)

I want mine to be with Him. I know that all the stony pieces must be gone in order for Him to mold me to His will. Just as the potter forming clay is impeded by any stony particles, the pieces of selfishness remaining in my heart must be removed.

I am so grateful to God that I do not have to remove them myself. He is capable of providing the cleansing.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalms 51:10 KJV)

(Today's graphic is detail from an internet background, edited, cropped and color enhanced.)