A New Heart

12 Jun

Mike’s got a new heart!

A little over a month ago I asked you to pray for my friend, Mike Temple, who had had a massive heart attack and was in need of a heart transplant. Well, this last week Mike got his new heart!

The transplant went well, but Mike still has many challenges ahead. His kidney’s took a hit, necessitating dialysis, and he is very weak, but progressing well. Please continue to keep Mike in your thoughts and prayers. There are still many tough days ahead, but he’s headed in the right direction, praise God!

I’m thrilled that Mike has a new heart, but there are so many of you that I care about who are also in need of a new heart. With hearts diseased and broken by sin, you feel like you are stumbling through life only half alive, living in this world “without God and without hope.” (Ephesians 2:12).

The fact is we all were born this way. David laments in Psalm 51:5, “For I was born a sinner – yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.” And Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things…desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

All around us we see the horrible results of our conditions. Whether it is the atrocities being inflicted on the people of Ukraine, the almost daily mass shootings that plague our nation, or starving infants in Somalia, the cause of all this pain and suffering is the same – humanity’s diseased and sinful hearts.

But there is hope. Through Jesus Christ we can all receive what we really need – a new heart! That is why He came to this earth, “not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28). If you will let Him He “will give you a new heart, and…put a new spirit in you. [He] will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

With his new heart Mike has a new beginning, a new chance at life. You too can experience a new start today. Mike had to wait for several weeks for his new heart, but you can have yours right now. Give Jesus your diseased, broken heart today and He “will give you a new heart” – a heart filled with love and joy and compassion, a heart that beats only for Him and for your fellow man.

Don’t wait until tomorrow. Don’t even wait another heartbeat. Give Jesus your life right now and start enjoying your new heart today!