Numbers 7-8
Mark 4:21-41

“Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”     —Proverbs 20:9

If we were asked, “Do you have a pure heart?” how many of us would say so? Probably none, because our biggest battle in life is the corruption of our own hearts. Solomon tells us, “The hearts of people...are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3). The prophet Jeremiah also reveals, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” The KJV translation says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Self-diagnosis is the most difficult thing in the world, especially of our own heart.

We may blame our secular environment as an influence for the condition of our wicked heart. But even if we locked ourselves away in a room for years on end, we would still be living with the biggest source of our problem, which is ourselves. James 1:14 tells us, “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” Sin comes from within. It is our old, natural self that is corrupted. Even if the devil died tonight, we would probably sin tomorrow because the devil does not need to be involved in every sin that we commit. The old nature we have—our heart—looks after that, and most sin is an inside job.

Where is our heart today? The wonderful news is that our heart is redeemable. David writes, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). After the Prophet Nathan exposed David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba, David cried out to God, “Create in me a pure heart.” Maybe some of us need a sobering time of confession with God praying, “Lord, create a pure heart in me. I confess my sins to You. Please forgive me of my sins. I know it is only because of the cross that my sins are forgiven. By Your Holy Spirit, come live within me and indwell me. Be the very center of my being, as my Lord and King. Amen.”

God specializes in heart surgery. Actually, He goes beyond that and specializes in heart transplant, as God speaks in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” God is able to remove the old callused, hardened heart and put a new heart that is pure in us.

Do we have a new heart?

Lord God, create in me a new heart and remove the old callused, hardened heart. Thank You for being the Great Surgeon who is able to perform this miracle in my life. Praise You!