by Kala Loptien

Transformed by Love

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this Sound Cloud link.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9 English Standard Version

Our heart: a hollow, muscular organ that pumps blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation; the center of our thoughts and emotions; the innermost part. Those are a few definitions found in the dictionary. Let’s take a deeper dive into THE book that fully defines, describes and prescribes all that we need when it comes to the heart.

Depending on your source and translation, the Bible mentions heart between 500 and 1,000 times. And within those passages, we see quite a range of heart issues, don’t we? From the beginning, we see misaligned desires and a shifted focus. We see people thinking they know better, and that they are “entitled” to better. We even have David, “a man after God’s own heart”, who, in the next breath begs to have his heart completely cleansed.

What a great depiction of that inner tension and turmoil we experience daily. Our hearts deceive us. Jesus even said what comes out of our hearts is what defiles us. A hard truth to hear; but one that needs to permeate our stubborn, self-serving hearts.

Consider this: who am I without Jesus? Yikes. A distressing question, I know. But for children of God and followers of Christ, it’s rhetorical, really. Yes, our hearts, minds and souls are in a sad state. We are guilty, and we cannot free ourselves. This was not a surprise to our Almighty Creator. He had a plan from the start. He would send His son to save the world, because He loved us.

Jesus spent His ministry on earth speaking to the hearts of those who, like David, yearned for a clean heart and something more. That something more is a heart transformed; desires aligned; a focus on the cross; and a life that testifies to the powerful, redemptive love that comes only from the heart of our good Father.

Lord, create in us a clean heart — one that recognizes our desperate need for you in all we do. Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado