From the Inside Out

"Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

We are so utterly needy for the gracious work of God in our hearts!!! Maybe you're like me and you want to honor Jesus with your life. What God tells me and you in this passage from Ezekiel, is that He has to give us a spiritual heart translplant before that can happen! We want to obey Jesus, but we can't.

The apostle Paul came to the same conclusion in Romans chapter seven. He wanted to live by the principles of the Ten Commandments, but he was unable to do so from the heart. He didn't want to live a life in opposition to the principles of the Ten Commandments, but was unable to stop! What would get him out of his predicament? The work of Jesus Christ accomplished for him on the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit in his life (Romans 8).

Paul needed a new spirit. He needed to become a completely new being spiritually, and receive the indwelling power of God's presence within before He could obey God's commands from the inside out!

Through human will power, we might be able to come up with the right behavior, but that is not enough to please God. He wants the right behavior performed out of correct inward desires. The only way we can obey God outwardly, and want to inwardly, is for us to become new people from the inside out, by the free love of God. If we will believe that Jesus died for our spiritual crimes, and inability to live by God's commands inside and out, God will choose to see only the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at us. He won't see our messed up lives anymore. More than that, He will also free us from the power of sin in our lives, by making us new people spiritually. He will enable us to not only have the right behavior, but to have the right behavior because our hearts truly desire to live like Jesus!

God demands that we honor Him by living like Jesus in our behavior, and by wanting to live like Jesus in our desires. He wants us to honor Him in heart and action. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live, became the perfect sacrifice we could never be, paid the penalty of spiritual/physical death that we deserved on the cross, and rose from the dead conquering sin and death on our behalf. If we believe that, God has made us new people in desire and behavior. So, because of Jesus, we can please God from the inside out, because we've been made new from the inside out! He has given us new hearts!

If you're one of Christ's followers, embrace and believe in the freedom you have as a new spiritual being by of your faith in Jesus.

If you're not one of Christ's followers, ask Him to forgive you for breaking His commands, and desires, because Jesus died for your spiritual crimes. He will give you a new spirit and forgive you for your sins. He will accept you into His spiritual family, His church. He will satisfy you with Himself in ways that every other pursuit of your life never could! Let Jesus make you new from the inside out today!