Dan Olson is a marathon runner and long-distance cyclist. He’s also a heart transplant recipient. Dan thought his athletic lifestyle would ensure having a healthy body. But at age 38, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy—the weakening and thickening of the heart muscle.
Damaged beyond repair, Dan needed a heart transplant. His donor was a 15-year-old car accident victim. Making the decision to generously donate their daughter’s organs in the midst of their tragedy, the teenager’s parents gave Dan a new life. “I think of my donor every day,” says Dan. “And I want to show her family all that their gift has allowed me to do.”
Before we became believers in Jesus, we had spiritual “cardiomyopathy”—the hardening of our heart (Ephesians 4:17-18). The Great Physician called our condition “a heart of stone” (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV). According to His prognosis, our stony heart was unable and unwilling to respond to God (Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27). Untreated, we would have been dead, devoid of life (Ephesians 2:1,5; Colossians 2:13).
But then we received major surgery. We are also heart transplant recipients. This procedure was performed by the divine Surgeon (Deuteronomy 30:6; Colossians 2:11). He said, “I will give you a new heart . . . . I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Without this new heart, we could not be a believer in Jesus.
You have received a new heart and a new life! Like Dan, do you think of your Donor every day? May this new heart empower you to “love Him with all your heart and soul and so you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Matthew 21:1-17
More:
Read Colossians 2:9-14 to find out what Jesus did to give you a new heart.
Next:
Why did God give you a new heart? How has this heart transplant changed the way you live?
tom felten on August 29, 2012 at 2:35 pm
I’m so glad that God gave us this new heart, K.T. Even though we all have stuff in our past, sins and baggage we regret, He allows us to walk in newness of heart and mind with Him. And Paul says, “This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
daisymarygoldr on August 29, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Thanks KT for the brilliant illustration and important teaching! Whether it involves the physical or spiritual heart, a transplant is nothing short of a miracle. And herein is wonderful grace—loss and death of the donor is gain of eternal life for the recipient.
Had it not been for the grace of God, my heart would still be cold and calloused toward Him. The new heart which I have received responds in ways that is beyond thinking of my Donor every day. We have God’s own heart that enables us to “hear” His law (Zechariah 7:12 NKJV) and “know” Him as the Lord (Jeremiah 24:7 NKJV).
Now that as believers we have tender hearts to “obey” His decrees and regulations, the Lord says: “Don’t harden your hearts…” (Psalm 95:8). A hardened heart is stubborn and refuses to turn from sin, storing up terrible punishment in the day of God’s wrath and judgment (Romans 2:5). May His Spirit help us to always love Him with all our hearts and souls—so that we may live.
regina franklin on August 29, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Great metaphor, KT. How awesome that His tender mercies are new every morning and His re-creative powers are available when the enemy tries to bring brokenness into our hearts again.
winn collier on September 2, 2012 at 1:54 pm
from today’s epistle reading: n fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.James 1:18
the newness begins with us, with me.