A New Heart

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

2 Timothy 2:22

MANY OF US STAND BEFORE the sin in our lives just as the Israelites trembled before Goliath the Philistine. Before we ever enter into battle, we believe defeat to be a foregone conclusion. We have heard that our hearts are deceitful and prone to wander (Jeremiah 17:9). There’s a sense in which that’s true, even after we come to faith. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 7:18: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.”

So we continue to struggle with sin, even as Christians. And yet, in the new covenant, God promised to do something about our hearts: “I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 11:19).

This promise of a new heart was fulfilled in Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian has received a new heart. Sin still remains, but like David facing Goliath, we can have confidence in the battle. We need not enter the fight defeated. We fight from victory—Christ’s on our behalf—for victory. And this is from God, not ourselves. So rather than focusing on our sinful desires, which have not been completely removed, we can live in the power of God’s Spirit. We can focus on Jesus and His grace instead. We have been given a new heart—one that loves God and desires to please Him.

BOTTOM LINE

As Christians, we have each been given a new heart. Knowing this, believing this, and living out of this is a powerful weapon in our fight against sin.

Moment of Strength: Ezekiel 36:22-36