New Heart For The New Year

BY REV GOH YONG KUANG

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. - Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)

The world often measures a person by his outward appearance and accomplishment. When God measures a person, He looks past the appearance and focuses on the heart (1Samuel 16:7b).  As someone once puts it, “When God sizes a person up, He puts the measuring tape not around the brain, or the biceps, or the waistline - but around the heart.” 

In the scripture, the heart is that spiritual part of us where our emotions and desires dwell.  It is by nature deceitful and evil (Jeremiah 17:9). Our Lord pointed out that sins like evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and foolishness, originate in the heart of man (Mark 7:21-23). 

Much of the message of Ezekiel is about God’s desire to change His people.  Their wilfulness and disobedience brought disgrace to God’s Name and much trouble and misery upon themselves.  But God has promised to preserve His Name by taking their hearts of stone and replace them with brand new ones that are responsive and obedient to Him.

What God did for the Israel of old, He wants to do the same transformation work in each one of us.  Besides forgiving us of our sins, like a skilled surgeon, He is doing a heart transplant.  Indeed, God is able to renew us from inside out by removing our stony heart and replace it with a living one. The new, God-given heart will focus on God and follow His ways.  It will seek the truth and choose to walk in it.

It is crucial to our Christian growth and personal development to check the health of our spiritual heart on a daily basis.  The prophet Jeremiah was one of those who had his heart tested by God.

“But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you.”

Jeremiah 12:3a (ESV)

IF YOU WERE TO HAVE YOUR HEART EXAMINED TODAY, WILL YOU PASS THE TEST?

The following questions* serve as a good start to gauging where we are IN TERMS of the condition of our SPIRITUAL HEART:

• Do I trust Jesus for salvation? (Acts 4:12)
• Do I tell others about Jesus? (Romans 1:15,16)
• Do I tell the truth? (Leviticus 19:11)
• Do I have a critical, judgmental spirit? (Matthew 7:1-5)
• Do I worry rather than trust God? (Luke 12:22-32)
• Am I kind toward others? (Colossians 3:12)
• Am I generous, or do I hoard my money? (2 Corinthians 9:6,7)
• Do I help those in need? (Acts 2:45)