John 10:10. “The thief has come only to rob, kill, and destroy, but I have come so that you can have life, and have it abundantly.”
Isaiah 61:1 "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted."
Ezekiel 36:25 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and make you eager to obey my laws and teachings.”
Life is brutal. More for some than for others, but all of us have faced difficulties and hardships and hurtful things. Because we have all been hurt, there is a sense in which we have all, to one degree or another, lost heart. To some extent, all of our hearts have been broken and damaged. Our enemy knows how important our hearts are –and that’s why he is so intent on destroying them –that’s why he is intent on breaking our hearts –on twisting our hearts –on deadening our hearts. If he can disable and deaden our hearts, he has effectively foiled God’s plan for us –God’s plan that our hearts be fully alive and free to love God with all of our hearts –to worship God with all of our hearts. If the enemy can break our hearts, he has broken us.
I know that some of us have had some serious heart-ache in our lives. Some of us have been hurt by family, by people we thought were friends, by people we work with, by disappointment, by sickness or trauma. And some of us have been severely damaged by our own poor choices. Whoever and whatever has hurt us, the one thing that seems to be a common denominator is that we have all been hurt –we’ve been wounded. We have been hurt so deeply that we have walled off our hearts –just to keep them from hurting so badly. We’ve allowed our hearts to harden and become like stone, because stone hearts aren’t tender –stone hearts can’t be easily broken again. But the problem is, you see, that our hearts can only become hard and stony when they are already damaged and broken.
Since there isn't much we can do about that, we learn to cope. We adjust. We compensate. But often in the process something gets lost. Many of us now seem to drift through life, going through the motions, but never truly understanding how very much God loves us. And just as bad, incapable because of our damaged hearts, of truly loving God. The thief, Satan, our enemy, has done the job of stealing, killing and destroying when it comes to matters of the heart, hasn’t he. Boy, do we need some help. We don’t need hearts of stone –we need brand new hearts –restored hearts –healed hearts.
This is what the relationship with Jesus is all about –getting our hearts back. The thief robs and kills and destroys –but Jesus gives life. The enemy twists our hearts and deadens and breaks our hearts, but Jesus binds up the brokenhearted. We deaden our hearts to protect ourselves from pain, but Jesus restores our hearts. He came to take away the damaged, unresponsive, broken heart –the heart of stone, and replace it with a new heart –a heart capable of loving God. Jesus claims to give us back our hearts.
What if what Jesus promised is true? What if his claims to be able to restore and heal and forgive and give us clean, new, undamaged hearts is a reality? What would happen if we believed it? Our lives would never be the same –would they? If we really believed that Jesus was able and willing to give us new hearts –I don’t mean just to forgive our sin, as awesome as that is, but to actually give us new hearts -to replace our broken, damaged hearts of stone with hearts truly capable of accepting and returning love –even God’s love, we would follow Him anywhere –we would do anything, wouldn’t we? People, this is the last thing the enemy wants us to understand –Jesus can take that heart that Satan has brutalized and broken and crushed, and heal it and restore it and give it back to you fully alive and free –free to love again. Free to accept God’s love. Some of you have already gotten back your hearts know exactly what I mean. And some of you aren’t quite there yet. If you are not quite there yet, I’d like to ask you to affirm a short prayer with me –use this prayer to quietly call out to God.
“Jesus, I’m tired of living with a broken, damaged heart. I’ve been going through motions, keeping busy, trying to keep my heart from being hurt more than it already is, but I’d rather have a heart that is truly alive and free. So, I’m turning to You and purposefully giving You my whole being –my mind –my body –my soul –and my heart. Cleanse me and give me a new heart. Please give me a new heart. Amen.”
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