The One Sure Way to a Healthy Heart
The bad news: every one of us will suffer from heart disease. In fact, if you are alive, you’re already a victim. The good news: a cure is available and it works 100% of the time. Is there really a cardiologist who can make such a claim?
Your heart is an incredible pump that continues its tireless work day after day, from the moment of its formation to its owner’s very last breath, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m not going to tell you anything about this marvel that sits in the center of your chest because I am not a cardiologist. I am only married to one. What little I know about this
four-chambered wonder has been acquired by osmosis, by listening in on endless doctor conversations murmured over the phone late at night when a nurse or technician calls to ask questions. Then I ask my own questions. They’re the same ones you would ask. “What is wrong? Is it serious? Why did it happen? Will it get better? What can be done?” Lucky for me, my private cardiologist is also my best friend. He loves to explain his craft to me and is always in reach of my voice. I have a direct line to the hungry cardiologist.
By grace I also have a direct line to the ultimate cardiologist, our heavenly Father. I can’t tell you much about the organ known as the heart, but I CAN tell you everything you need to know in order to have a healthy heart. Does that sound like an outrageous statement? It is, and I can only say it because I know the One who created every heart that has ever dared to beat. In God’s economy, your heart is more than a pump – it is the seat of your inner nature, your personality, mind, will, emotions and secret desires. He has quite a bit to say about the heart, and His prescription for heart health is surprisingly absent of advice about nutrition, exercise, smoking or even family history.
God is indeed the ultimate cardiologist. He has provided a handbook on how to live life with that “standard issue” piece of equipment called the heart. He chose to reveal this important information to us through the Bible. This inspired book was written down by men who were moved by God’s Spirit to record His words (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21). If this is true (and there are many good reasons to believe it is), then we would be wise to examine carefully what He has to say about the heart. He mentions it an astounding 764 times in the Bible!
The Diagnosis
Every human entering this world has a heart problem. From the day Adam chose to rebel against God in Eden, Adam’s offspring have carried the mark of his fatal flaw. Each bears a heart damaged and tainted by sin. A host of unholy adjectives describe this condition: a rebellious heart (Jeremiah 5:23), a divided heart (1 Kings 11:4), a proud heart (Proverbs 21:4), a hardened heart (Proverbs 28:14), a deceived heart (Deuteronomy 11:16) and a downright evil heart (Jeremiah 18:12). Man is not even able to understand his own heart according to Scripture (Jeremiah 17:9) and many fail to recognize that in spite of their best efforts, they cannot cure this sin disease on their own. In fact, by nature we become full-fledged willing participants in the defect like addicts who want to do better, but simply can’t. The defect is too pervasive to fix with a patch or a plug. It requires a transplant. A good cardiologist recognizes when a heart is beyond repair. He makes the diagnosis and prescribes a remedy. Unfortunately his patient almost always resists the treatment until his ability to function is so impaired, he has no other choice but to surrender completely and put his life in the hands of another. We are no different when it comes to allowing God to do, with surgical precision, what only He can do – give us a new heart.
The Cure
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. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow . . . Ezekiel 36:26-27
A transplant cure is the most frightening of treatments, but through it the disease process that leads to death is swept away once and for all. In the physical world, the outcome is hopeful, but uncertain. In the spiritual world, it’s guaranteed to work because the ultimate Cardiologist has the procedure perfected. Jesus provides the donor heart for your cure. In your place, He dies the death you were destined to endure as a carrier of the disease known as sin. Someone had to die, but through His gift it doesn’t have to be you.
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
The gift is free for the asking, but sadly not all the sick will seek a cure. The patient must first recognize that indeed he is afflicted with a heart prone to rebel and seek his own way. By faith he puts his trust in Jesus’ death on his behalf, lays his life down on God’s examining table, and pledges to put Him in charge from now on. With a new heart comes a new desire to live in obedience to Him and a new love for Him as well – a wanting to follow. It’s that simple.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
John 3:16-18
Whatever the diagnosis you may have received recently from your earthly cardiologist, be encouraged. There is a cure for the most deadly heart condition, the one that really matters in the scope of eternity. In fact, the cure God provides is so completely effective, you are guaranteed of one day entering into a place where the fear of death and disease are no longer brought to mind. You will then celebrate the opportunity to thank and embrace the Son who died in your place and healed your broken heart.
