The Heart Doctor

“You’re boring and your bad!”

I was grocery shopping, and looked around to see who the woman in the produce section was talking to. I didn’t spot anyone else, and it occurred to me she was boldly giving me a review of my work on television. I was shocked someone could be that rude, but thankful her negative commentary was one of the few complaints I received over a nineteen year sportscasting career.

Unkind words sting, don’t they? But if someone’s heart is hardened, many times their words are as well. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19)..

Have you ever been a victim of someone’s hard heart, pounded by the stones that flowed out of it? How did you feel afterwards?

Here’s the good news. God is in the business of softening hearts. He is a heart doctor.

In fact, he has the monopoly on it, and there is no heart of stone he cannot chisel or heal.

When talking about his beloved Israel, God promises, “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). It’s a promise for anyone who chooses to believe, and it’s a prayer we can lift up for others.

This week I participated in an event where a former co-worker was one of the key-note speakers. My last memory of him involved an unkind word, so I was nervous about seeing him again.

But I knew he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. I was told God transformed his heart of stone into a heart of flesh. I proceeded cautiously, because I needed to see it for myself.

When we met again for the first time in sixteen years, the change in him was immediately apparent. He was kind to me. There was warmth flowing through his words, and his message to the people at the event had a core of humility. He was what the Bible calls a “new creation.”

Only God can melt the hearts of men or women.

Who in your life needs heart surgery? Whose lifestyle reflects a damaged heart?

Don’t ever give up on them. Pray for God to do his work in them, and never stop praying, because he is the only heart doctor who can heal, and restore their lives to a place that honors him. (LBW)