Life sure tries to beat us up. Agree?

Can you recall a time when you faced significant surgery as a result? Did a good doctor bring you great repair? Did you get a much-needed win?

God performs surgery too. His specialty is the heart. And He does it well. Today’s Scripture makes this clear. These are His aims:

UNDIVIDED HEART GRANTING: God wants to eliminate our wayward, loose living. He wants our hearts no longer wandering from Him. And so He tightens things up between us and Him. (That’s where Jesus comes in.) A dual life robs us and kills Him. He wants us satisfied in Him alone. One is better than two. 

NEW SPIRIT GIVING: All of us carry a spirit of rebellion inside us. It often gets us in trouble. God gives us a new, better one: His! His Spirit installed gets us running right. 

STONE REMOVAL: When unconfessed sin and unrepentant living builds up in our lives, our hearts grow rock-hard, calloused, indifferent. That’s no way for us to operate. God knows how to find stones and remove them. Let Him. 

FLESH RESTORATION: Our hearts were designed to be soft and supple toward Him, not hard-hearted. God is committed to restoring the heart-tenderness we need to live long and well. What a needed operation and fantastic restoration!

This Doctor sure has skills. May He operate well on us. May we let Him have our hearts. 

Reflect: Is your heart divided just now? If so, what or who is getting in the way? Have you asked the Lord lately to remove any stoniness build up in your life, your heart? 

Is God’s Spirit infusing and filling you with freshness? Pause and ask Him for renewal and restoration. He’s great at operating in these moments. 

A prayer to consider: O LORD, thank You for your amazing promise and commitment to care for my heart. Operate there. Bring your terrific surgery. Get me healthy. Keep me healthy. I don’t want my heart divided from You, no stony indifference or rocky rebellion building up there. 

Replace stone with flesh. May my spirit rejoice in the newness Yours always brings, and may my heart be ever-tender toward You, just like Jesus. Amen.