A New Heart

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God”. Ezekiel 11:19-20 (ESV)

With a new baby, and a wreck of a house I have a tendency to be focused on the job to be done: it is easy to do. Consequently, I am task orientated, with a noticeable sense of satisfaction when a task is done. However, as I get older, slow down a little bit, and gain more in life experience, I have with some limited success, tried to see the bigger picture. To realize that my family’s well-being comes first; yes, even before the tasks.

I have an old electric hover mower. A bit like me, it was a little weary. So tired in fact, the motor no longer had enough power to lift and cut properly. When online recently I noticed an old broken mower (20+yrs), but newer than mine, was up for free collection.

So I eagerly collected this old reject and, once home, I removed the motor. It unscrewed and came out of the housing without a hitch. Then, as I returned to my old thing I found the screws were so rusted and worn out by damp that the heads had gone and could not be removed.

What could I do? I would have to perform major surgery on the plastic around the screws to cut around their mountings. It was a once-only chance. Eventually by God’s Grace, I successfully managed it, and the replacement one slotted in perfectly.

Now I have a mower that cuts the grass, not feebly but with gusto! I rejoiced; only to find like Jonah and the shading plant, God was using this to get my attention. Maybe I needed a new heart – one that is not primarily focused on Martha type things and doing, but on God and people? God is willing to give me, and you, an opportunity to have that new start today!

PRAYER: LORD, create in us a new heart: to be a Kingdom people and gain a sense of Kingdom purpose for us today. Let us not become indifferent like stone, or get tired in the world, but rather grant in us a new heart, to sing Your praises: to rise up on wings like eagles once more, because in Jesus we are Your people and You are our God, amen.

by Rod Marshall
Used by Permission

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