The news was grim.
My father had been having chest pains, so his doctor had ordered a test to peer into his heart. The result? Blockage in three arteries.
Triple-bypass surgery was scheduled for February 14. My dad, though anxious, saw that date as a hopeful sign: “I’m getting a new heart for Valentine’s Day!” And he did! The surgery went perfectly, restoring life-giving blood flow to his struggling heart. A “new” heart. A second chance.
My father’s surgery reminded me that God offers us a new life as well. Because sin clogs our spiritual “arteries”—our capacity to connect with God—we need spiritual “surgery” to clear them.
That’s what God promised His people in Ezekiel 36:26. He assured the Israelites, “I will give you a new heart. . . I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” He also promised, “I will cleanse you from all your impurities” (v. 25) and “put my Spirit in you” (v. 27). To a people who’d lost hope, God promised a fresh start as the One who could renew their lives.
That promise was ultimately fulfilled through Jesus’s death and resurrection. When we trust in Jesus, we receive a new spiritual heart, one that’s cleansed of our sin and despair. Filled with Christ’s Spirit, our new heart beats with the spiritual lifeblood of Jesus, that “we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).