His Promises to Me

His Promise to Me

As I sat listening to Christmas unwrap itself on the radio, TV, and internet, through song and usually meaningless “schmaltz” – way away from the real heart of Christmas – the Lord spoke to me through His Word. Ezekiel 36:26  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "

I got to thinking about this and, as I did so, I came to the realisation that God has been fulfilling this wonderful promise in me over the last few years, and especially in the last 18 months since we came to our present home and church. I got to thinking about the changed lives I had seen recently. People, just ordinary people, who have lived far from perfect lives thus far, being changed and softened by the love of God.

I can truly say that I once was . . . . . but now I am . . . . .

I once was selfish but now I am not so selfish any more.

I once was quite rude to people but I no longer am quite so bad.

I once was arrogant but now I don’t think I am.

I once was harsh and judgemental and I try very hard now not to be – I’ve seen too many changes in both me and in others.

I once put me first but now I don’t.

I can put my hand on my heart and say that I was once all of these things and many more, yet now, somehow by the indwelling power of Holy Spirit, I have been changed – just as He promised.

I once looked down on the less fortunate. Me - born to a poor family in London, the son of a lowly bus driver, thought some people were beneath me. Now the Lord has given me a ministry to these wonderful people. My heart simply goes out to them, especially when I see the changes the Lord brings to their lives. Me – who went to grammar school on a scholarship – who has half a decent brain – thought these very ordinary folk whom life had treated so harshly – I thought them beneath my level of social standing. Me – with all the advantages of half a brain – but who wasted his entire education chasing the sporting dream and who had to start at the very bottom.

I looked down on people but God said to me, directly, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."  I have seen Him do this in others too – replace hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. Golden hearts you might say because these old hard hearts have been replaced with compassionate and loving hearts.

Perhaps that is what this passage really means. God takes our old hard, selfish heart and replaces it with a heart full of love and compassion – a heart with God’s love for  all, especially the lost and fallen, the hurt and bound, the broken and damaged – those with less or even nothing. That’s who God would have us care for. These are they to whom we are sent.

It would do every church a great deal of good to remember that no-one is beyond the Gospel. No-one is so far removed from God that He cannot reach them with His love – maybe through you and me.

Are you being called too?