“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
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How's your heart? I don't mean the health of your blood pumping organ. I'm asking How's your heart? This isn't a question of your love life (although I'm sure it's related). I'm not asking if you've found that special someone to spend the rest of your days with in blissful matrimonial union. No, I'm asking about how you are within yourself--when no one is looking and your guard is down. When you are all alone. When you gaze into the endless galaxies of your unknown and unknowable inner self, what do you see? Do you fear your own character? Do you see a great emptiness? Or do you see the lies you've told, the hate you've fostered and nurtured. Do you see the conflicting and conflicted mingled self love and loathing that cripples your life? Can you be honest with yourself? Do you peer into your heart and see deep-seated selfishness? Are you afraid that you'd kill given the chance just to get your own way? Have you plotted your big heist, so you can run away and live a life of ease?
God knows the condition of the human heart. God knows that we are evil.
Genesis 8:21 NIV
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
There in Genesis God is describing the trajectory of the heart. Your heart. It leads you to lust, to be selfish, to hate, to envy, or to discontent. Your heart is never satisfied. Your heart is a relentless evil.
Jesus was well acquainted with the ugly state of the human heart not because of his own but because of everyone he came in contact with.
This is what he says about the heart :
Matthew. 15:8,18-20 " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "
So how does the Psalmist come to say this: "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart" Psalm 40:8 NLT. What had changed his heart?
It seems the Psalmist and a select few others are a foretaste of the sweeping, core-changing alteration God had planned.
God through Jeremiah declares that he's going to perform the most amazing heart surgery. He's going to change the inclination of the human heart. He's going to make the heart respond to God's word. His people will obey because it is in their heart to do so.
Breathe a sigh of relief. Let this news sink in. The enemy that keeps you awake at night, your own heart, can be changed!
God plans to rewrite the heart. There will be a day when people have God's word written on their hearts.
And that day has begun with Jesus. And that heart change had begun with his followers.
2 Corinthians 3:3 NLT
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us. It is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us. It is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.
Hebrews 8:10, (10:16) NLT
But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds so they will understand them, and I will write them on their hearts so they will obey them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds so they will understand them, and I will write them on their hearts so they will obey them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Are you longing for a change of heart?
Jesus can write a new ending to the book of your heart. As you trust Jesus and his work on the cross and you repent of your sins, you are evidencing that God is writing a new Word on your heart.
You will not find it within yourself to change, but if you turn to Jesus he will write you a new word on your heart.
Jesus can write a new ending to the book of your heart. As you trust Jesus and his work on the cross and you repent of your sins, you are evidencing that God is writing a new Word on your heart.
You will not find it within yourself to change, but if you turn to Jesus he will write you a new word on your heart.
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