FEBRUARY 24 "WHAT'S IN YOUR HEART?"

 It's always pretty amazing when the Old Testament reading coincides with the New Testament reading. In the Old Testament we have Jehovah giving all the requirements for the cleansing and forgiveness of uncleanness; then in the New Testament we have Jehovah, incarnate, giving us the deeper issues of uncleanness. Jesus explains to us uncleanness comes from what's inside the heart of a man/woman. We know that before Jesus ever spoke to the disciples about uncleanness being stored in the heart, He warned us through the inspired Word in Proverbs that we "should guard our hearts with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life." God gives us insight into the heart; that it is more than a muscle that pumps oxygen and blood through our bodies, but is actually a container that holds both evil and good. Psychologists try to deal with the mind when attempting to heal and help a patient. However, they neglect or are ignorant that therapy for the mind is not therapy for the heart. The promise of Salvation brings with it both the "renewing of the mind" and the gift of a new heart. "For I will take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh". The promise of Salvation is the promise of a new mind and a new heart. A healing that is complete! We have a life that has imprinted images, hurts, pains, sins, guilt, shame and more and all this is literally embedded in the heart of a human. The story of an eight year girl that received a heart transplant from of another young girl that was murdered in a crime that went unsolved. After the heart implant the young girl began having nightmares of a man murdering her. The vivid memories seemed unusual to the psychologist who decided to get the police involved. The young girl who had the heart transplant gave such a clear description of the man from her nightmares, that the police were actually able to track the man down and arrest him. This incident and many other documented incidents just like it reveal to us that Jesus meant it literally when He told us to "guard our hearts";  our hearts are literally containers, a reservoir of memories. Salvation brings with it forgiveness of sin, which is a must to make heaven our home, but Jesus also gives us a New Heart, something no therapist, no drug, no psychologist could ever bring. In the Old Testament Jesus is showing us that a sacrifice must be made for uncleanness, but the Heart is never changed because the sacrifice is imperfect, but through two prophets He prophesies of the day when the sacrifice will be perfect and not only will men be able to be forgiven, but by the Grace of God will be able to receive new hearts!

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