There is no greater promise than that of a new heart.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to live forever in the miserable condition in which Jesus found me, or whatever “issue,” brokenness, or addiction we might struggle with along the way. That would be torture. Forgiveness deals with our past. Restoration deals with our future. Again, restoration takes us back to the way God created us to be, not to the way we were before we were found out.

A new heart is a glorious thing. There is the new heart that comes at the moment of salvation. But there is also the process of that new heart growing to become like Christ’s heart. If we are to do differently, we must become different on the inside.

That’s what Jesus wants to do – to change us from the inside out. That takes time. It takes being in His presence a lot. It takes feedback from others, soaking in uplifting media, unlocking and healing from wounds from the past, and more. We need to remember that only God can change our hearts.

Erick Bouwmeester