Ezekiel 36:26-27

“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 will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

I read this on a friend’s wall a few days ago, and it really resonated in connection with the fact that we are His workmanship. In Ephesians 2:4-5, we are informed as Christians that God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. The plans for heart surgery were in place before we even knew we needed it. In fact, we aren’t just talking about changing the heart, we are talking about trading out a bad heart for a good one, a transplant as mentioned in Ezekiel 36. Plus we get a new spirit.

The old heart was stony, and boy, do we encounter plenty of people with that type of heart today. It’s like dealing with government systems in which there are no feelings, only rules. Laws bring death. They make us hard-hearted. But the Spirit gives life. It is part of that transplant process.

The new heart and the new spirit are part of the facilitation of our compliance with God’s laws. It’s no longer about what we know and do, it’s about who we know and how we respond. His spirit prompts us to follow His laws. It’s not a matter of the will anymore. It’s a matter of yieldedness and empowerment. If it’s about my trying, my striving, then it is about me. However, life in Christ is Christ-focused. His Holy Spirit empowers us to be His witnesses. It isn’t about our work, it is about our connectedness. You won’t get much done with an unplugged power saw, but when it is plugged in, the craftsman can easily accomplish his plans. When we are plugged in, our Master Craftsman can accomplish His plans. Without being connected and empowered, we will strive and fail, just as a power saw will serve little good without its power source in place and correctly functioning.