At the start of the 20th century a lady regularly distributed... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26.

At the start of the 20th century a lady regularly distributed printed copies of the sermons of a well-known preacher in the streets of a European capital city. One of the coachmen in the square outside a station had repeatedly accepted the leaves.
One Sunday, however, he refused one with the remark that he no longer wanted to read the sermons. The lady asked him politely, "Why not?" He answered, "If I go on reading them, I shall have to change my ways, and I don't want to!"

He was aware that if he accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, he would be saved for eternity, but it meant that his life on earth had to undergo radical changes: giving up habits that he enjoyed, because God could not approve of them, and that was too much for him.

Hadn't he overlooked something important? God does not expect anyone to change the life he has by nature in his own strength. He is incapable of changing his old "heart of stone". God expects us to regard our life without Him as a failure, to confess our sins to Him and believe on the Saviour Jesus Christ.

God Himself will set the radical change in motion through the new birth. He will give us a "new heart", one that dislikes sin from then on and has fresh motives and aims by doing God's will. Nobody needs to fear such a change in his ways.

Today's reading: Daniel 7:15-28 · Acts 2:14-24