Hearts of Stone and Flesh

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. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

There's a story about a man who cleaned out his attic and threw out a lot of the old junk he found there. Among the discards was an old Bible. Now we usually don’t throw away old Bibles; that just seems sacrilegious somehow. But this one was falling apart and had writing all over it, so he threw it away. A friend collected antique and he expressed interest in the old Bible.

The man said, “You wouldn't have been interested. It was in German; somebody named Guten-something-or-other printed it.”

“Gutenberg!” exclaimed the book collector in horror. “That Bible was one of the first books ever printed! Why, it could have been worth millions!”

“Nah,” said the man. “It wasn’t worth anything. Somebody named Luther had scribbled all over it!”

We live in a culture prone to discarding old things. Mass production and planned obsolescence make it easy to throw old things away and get new ones. No one makes a living repairing old coffee pots, toasters, or VCR’s anymore. It’s easier to discard them and buy a new one.

Unfortunately, we are that way we people and relationships. Companies discard old employees and replace them with new ones who don’t require as much salary or benefits. People are far too quick to throw away marriages that don’t seem to be working; it’s easier to just move on to a new relationship. And Christians are too often much too quick to give up on a church and move on to a new one.

But the secret to repairing old things is the God who makes all things new. God promises his people to give them a new heart. He will replace rebellious hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, hearts that are led by His Spirit to obey His words. God would not discard his people; He will rather make them new. That is what God wants to do with each one of us. How blessed we are to serve a God who repairs and restores and makes new!