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June 30, 2007
Heart Trouble
READ: Ephesians 2:1-10

Create in me a clean heart, O God. —Psalm 51:10

What’s the most common affliction that plagues people in the US? Heart trouble. More than any other ailment, it’s the disease that causes an early death.

But there’s an affliction even more deadly than a malfunction of the organ that pumps blood through our bodies. It’s a spiritual heart disease from which everyone suffers. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Here’s the diagnosis made by Jesus Christ, the greatest of all heart specialists: “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man” (Matt. 15:19-20).

His words echo the verdict of Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” That diagnosis includes all who are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1).

We need a new heart—to be made alive. But how can that happen? It takes the healing touch of our Lord. God showed His kindness to us in Christ Jesus when He gave His Son to die in our place. He makes us alive by grace through faith; “it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).

Ask Him for a spiritual heart transplant.

Now rest, my long-divided heart,Fixed on this blissful center, rest,Nor ever from my Lord depart,With Him of every good possessed. —Doddridge

We need more than a new start; we need a new heart.