Tell Me the Stories of JesusSample

Throughout the Bible, the heart represents the innermost person—the you that lives within. It is the seat of our self-consciousness, character, decision-making, and emotions. Just think of what we find in Proverbs 23. Solomon yearned for his son’s heart to be wise: “My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad” (Prov. 23:15). He then spoke of the heart as his “inmost being” (v. 16). His son is warned against letting his heart envy sinners (v. 16). The son is admonished to “direct your heart in the way” (v. 19), meaning the way of God. He called for his son to “give me your heart” and thus to avoid prostitutes and sexual sin (v. 26). He warned his son against the dangers of wine, advising, “your heart [will] utter perverse things” (v. 33).

Tellingly, the prophet Ezekiel beautifully described God's act of redemption as giving us a new heart. Speaking through His prophet, God said: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26).

So it turns out that the condition of the heart means everything when it comes to receiving the Word of God. . . .

Only the Word of God can penetrate the sinful human heart and its hardened defenses. As Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Nothing but the Word of God can do this work, but God’s Word does this work. Such is the power of the Word of God.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to have a heart like good soil so that your Word may take root in me. Amen.