Devotionals - Three Weeks Until Departure

Strategic Change of Heart

“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

            Living in the culture of our day tends to harden our hearts.  We are constantly bombarded with so many needs – on the streets as we drive, work and shop; on the TV with news of war, famine and other natural & manmade disasters; even in our churches with missionaries telling of needs and stories about the persecution of our brothers and sisters around the world.  We soon get to the point where the hurt we see around us does not affect us.  Sure, we see it, we may even mentally comprehend it but we have built a wall around our emotions so that we will not be overcome by what we perceive as an unrelenting river of needs and demands on our time and resources.  We have turned our hearts to stone.  But is that how God wants His children to be?  (Mathew 5:7, Luke 6:27-36)

            My boss at my old job knew I worked with the orphans when I went to Russia, but he didn’t want to hear anything about it.  He had his work, his large home, his new family, and his luxury car.  He was doing well in life, but didn’t want to see or feel compassion for the orphans.  So he closed his heart… and his heart was like stone.

            What we all need is a strategic change of heart.  There’s only one person for that kind of strategic heart surgery – Jesus.  Invest some time with the Lord today and over the next few days asking Him to examine your heart.  Ask Him to remove your heart of stone and give you a heart like His.  One that is touched by the needs of others.  One that is willing to share the love of God wherever it is needed. 

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

                                     ~ Amy Carmichael (1867-1951)
                                        Missionary to India

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