I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. — Ezekiel 36:26
Hard Heart, Cold Heart, Heart of Stone — Sounds like song titles from the 60’s.
Think for a minute that perhaps Ezekiel is speaking directly to us today not just 2000 years ago. Have any of us considered that our heart was made of stone — so that it needed to be replaced. Probably not. There was a movie in the early 90’s starring William Hurt called The Doctor. He was a heart surgeon who was cold and unfeeling until he had to come to grips with his own fragility and mortality because of cancer. At the end he operates on a man who needs a heart transplant. The man and his wife not only want a new heart, they want to make sure it is a “good heart” — not in the sense of healthy, but a good and kind heart.
Sometimes our feeling that we don’t need a new heart is masked by our our addictions, our self-centeredness, and our refusal to undergo true self-examination. One of the things that Lent encourages us to do is to take a good hard look at ourselves. When we do, we realize that we could always be gentler in our ways, in our reactions with others. Most often though we are too harsh and hard hearted with ourselves. Lent teaches us to unburden ourselves, to lighten up and let God replace our heart of stone with one of flesh. After all it is much more human.
Webb
Leave a Reply +