JEREMIAH 24:7
“Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will
be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”
A few years ago Kelly Perkins could hardly walk around the block, let alone climb a mountain. In
1995, however, she was the recipient of a heart transplant. Two years later she became the first hearttransplant
patient to climb Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous states.
Thanks to a new heart, the 36-year-old real estate appraiser was able to reach the top and return within
three days. All this was done without any ill effects. What the old heart could never have
accomplished, the new one did easily.
God promised that His people would someday receive a new heart as well. In place of their old, sin- clogged spiritual cardiovascular system, they would receive a new heart that would enable them to
love the Lord and follow Him. This could not be accomplished by “reworking” the heart they already
had, however. Israel needed a heart transplant and only God could do it.
This promise was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we receive Christ as our Savior, whether
we are a Jew or a Gentile, God doesn’t simply patch up the weak spots or plaster over the cracks. He
doesn’t simply remodel our old lives. He gives us new lives. He makes us into completely new
creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
And that includes a new spiritual heart. What the old heart couldn’t do, the new heart is able to
accomplish with joy. Through the work of God’s Spirit in your new heart, you can know and obey the
Lord Jesus in a way that never could have been achieved with the old.
Give thanks to God for your new heart. Rejoice that now you can not only seek the Lord with all your
heart, but you can obey Him with all your heart as well.
ONLY GOD CAN PERFORM A SPIRITUAL HEART TRANSPLANT.
WOODROW KROLL
www.backtothebible.in