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A fleshy heart.


Valentine's Day is all about hearts, right?   Well, have you ever heard of a fleshy heart?   Anybody know what that is?  Flesh in scripture usually means "worldly" (or so I thought).  But God, through the prophet Ezekiel, says: 

            I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.  I will remove

          from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

 
Okay - well, so there must be a different meaning here - that's what I'm thinking.  God will give us a “new heart”.  He will remove our heart of stone.  I certainly understand the part about getting rid of my heart of stone.  I totally need that.  A heart of stone, one so set on its own way and totally not movable.  Selfish (when the emphasis is on self, its "ish") - hard, probably a little callous.   Yes, I want to get rid of that!

But a heart of flesh?  Isn’t that weak?  I mean, flesh is . . . . flesh-y – easily bruised, like putty – wouldn’t you say?

Actually, in this case, “flesh” is “often a symbol for weakness and frailty.  "Pliable and teachable", my Concordia self-study Bible footnote says.

THAT is what my heart is supposed to be?  Pliable and teachable.  That sounds weak to me.  Wait, does He know that ain’t cool?  I mean, weakness is a negative – bad – something not wanted.  Pliable means I’m easy, I am not strong, I can be used and abused. 

Sorry, I’m not understanding this AT ALL.  I mean, I sort of thought I should want to be strong - you know, and have everybody know I'm "one of the strongest”???

This “heart of flesh” is a new concept for me.  Could it be like a clay pot in the hand of the potter – the Heavenly Potter?    Moldable.  Teachable.  Usable.  A heart that isn’t pushy, or wise or strong, but humble and yearning.  Yearning to know God, yearning to do His will, His way.  Willing to learn.  Willing to be . . . .

Weak.   There, I said it.  Yes, weak.  Not cool, not "with it" but so weak that the only way is surrendered. 

So how?  How do I get this heart of flesh?   God wants to give it to us!  He wants us to have this new heart - this fleshy heart.  Ask for it - seek it!  Want it more than anything.

 1 John 3:20 says:

                     If our hearts condemn us, we know that God
                     is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.

He knows everything, He is greater than anything and He will give us a heart of flesh, 

Lord help me to be ready, willing and able to do things Your way.  Give me a heart of flesh, destroy this heart of stone.  Help me to be moldable YOUR way.


The plaque above my desk has a picture of Jesus kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, with these words (from Jesus):
  
I would be still and murmur not, but breathe the prayer divinely taught,  “Thy Will, not mine, be done!”

 
 
Fleshy – oh, may it be so.

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