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. (Ezekiel 36:26 ESV)
My husband, Don, has had a wart on the bottom of his foot for almost as long as I’ve known him. Six years ago it was a non-threatening, tiny little black dot. At first, we bought a do-it-yourself kit and applied the painful tip to the surface several times. Failing that, he went to the doctor’s office a dozen times to have the nurses ‘burn’ it out. But it would appear that the darn wart just hunkered down and took a harder hold, morphing today into an angry cluster the size of a dime, causing him discomfort.
It appears that Don needs to get serious and see the doctor to get it cut out, to get underneath the surface and destroy it at the source. It will be painful, but necessary, because in order to have victory over it, he needs to get to the root of the problem.
Similarly, there are things in our lives that we would like to get rid of. We apply a prayer or Bible verse in private in an attempt to see it disappear. But, much like the wart, the sinful habit seems to only grow larger – and our faith smaller. Hiding it under some spiritual socks, we think nobody will be the wiser . . . until one day the pain of the hidden ‘wart’ causes us to limp. A knowing, spiritually discerning friend recognizes our problem and comes alongside us. We are relieved to know that they have called us out! Confessing our shameful secret, we rip off the sock and expose it for what it truly is. Finally!
Now, with our trusted friend, together we bring it to the cross and ask the Lord to remove the hardened habit and to replace it with fresh, healthy spiritual flesh. Ahhhhh . . . relief at last!
Father, we thank You that You don’t want us to limp through life with a hardened heart. Help us to get real and serious with all and any sins in our life and to allow You to cut them out from the root. We praise You that You won’t leave an ugly scar or hole, but that You promise to fill it! Amen!
