Day 17 A New Heart

" I will cleanse you. 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.  You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.  Ezek 36:25-28. ESV

Next to the Bible, my favorite story of Christmas has to be Dickens' Christmas Carol. As we all know, it concerns an English miser named Ebenezer Scrooge.  In the course of a Christmas night, Scrooge's heart was changed and he became a generous-hearted lover of Christmas and  more importantly, of the people around him.

Most of us would like to think that we are like Scrooge at the end of the book. But honestly, we are probably closer to Scrooge at the beginning of the story than we like to think. 

Scrooge didn't really hate people.  He was just indifferent to them. He could look at a beggar on the street and never really see him as more than someone in his way. 

Early in the story, two men visit Scrooge to ask for a donation on behalf of the poor.

 "Are there no prisons?" he asks "Are there no poorhouses?"
"Many refuse to go there," answers one of the me, "And some would rather die."

"if they would rather die," says Scrooge, "Let themn do so, and decrease the surplus population." 

Scrooge didn't hate the poor. Hate is a warm emotion.  His heart was cold. He was simply indifferent.  Scrooge saw people as  cyphers on a ledger,  statistics in a book. He did not have any idea what it meant to feel with others.

God does not see us as a number. He shares our feelings. He came in human form to be our Lord and Savior because He wanted  us to know that He cares for us individually.  When we feel nothing for those around us, our hearts are like stone.

Ezekiel declares that God can change hearts from stone to flesh. When that happens, we can have real feelings for God and others.  We can see the sufferings of Christ on our behalf, and the love and compassion He had for us.  When we fully know the compassion Christ feels for us, then it only makes sense that should have the same compassion for others. 

Examine your feelings and your mind.  Do you rejoice with those who rejoice, and hurt with those who hurt?  

In the story, Scrooge hardened to escape the hurts of his childhood. In doing so, he cut himself off from the rest of humanity  A stone heart doesn't feel hurt, but it doesn't feel love or joy, either.   If we do not allow Jesus to soften our hearts, we will never know fully what His love is really all about.

But if we let Him give us a new heart,  we can know His love in us.

"Father, teach me to love others the way You love me. Let me experience what it means to have empathy and compassion to those around me.  In Jesus' name. Amen.