Read: Ezekiel 36:26-27 NRSV
A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone 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.
This is the promise of the New Covenant: we will no longer be ruled from the outside in, through our own attempts at obedience to the law that are doomed to failure. Instead, we will be given a new heart and will be transformed from the inside out. We will obey the law because the spirit within us will be the spirit of God. Our hearts are hearts of stone. We cannot truly feel. We are stubborn, uncaring, and robotic. A heart of flesh allows us to feel love for God and love for each other.
Pray: Oh God, give us new hearts that seek always to accomplish your will. Let us unlearn the selfishness of our conceit and ambition and instead grow every day in our understanding of the holy nature of Jesus Christ. Amen.
