I Had a Heart Transplant

When I was little, I had a "heart transplant."
Little did I know then, that it would affect my life forever.
 
 
Have you ever thought about the fact that when you gave your life to Christ, you actually had a “heart transplant?” It says in Ezekiel 36:26, “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.”
 
That sure sounds a lot like a heart transplant to me! =) 
 
But have you ever thought about the fact that once you’ve given your life to Christ, nothing is ever the same again?
 
At least, once a true conversion happens you should never be the same again. You should be different in every aspect of life. You should talk differently, walk differently, hear differently, look differently, see the world through a different set of glasses.
 
Honestly, there’s not one thing that should stay the same. Why? Because your old man has DIED. And when someone dies, they’re ALL dead. They’re gone. Half of them doesn’t remain on the earth, while half of them goes onto heaven. 
 
And that folks, should be us.
 
A walking skeleton is pretty easy to spot, wouldn’t you agree?
 
Let’s not be walking skeletons of the people we once were. Let’s be NEW creations in Christ and live our lives so differently and set apart that people look at us in envy and want what we have.
The day we give our lives to Christ, let’s forsake our old man and throw him away for good. Let’s not cling to the skeleton of who we once were.
 
Five Ways You Might Be Holding on to Your Skeleton

1. If You Still Desire The Old

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:17)
 
When you give your life to Christ, you become new. You shouldn’t desire the things you once did. Your fleshly desires should be replaced by heavenly, godly ones. A little ice cream isn’t a sin. Watching movies won’t kill you, but having these things as the focal point of your desires, thoughts, and motives, is a sign that you might be holding a little too tightly to your skeleton.
 
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     2. If You’re Not Quick to Love, and Forgive
“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” (​Colossians 3:12-14 )

When you give your life to Christ, you realize that the amount of patience, compassion, humility, gentleness, and forgiveness He has towards you is overwhelmingly big. Likewise, we should act the same way towards others. We understand that through our sin, the Lord forgave us. So shouldn’t we be readily available to do that for others? Lastly we see that as a new man we need to PUT ON  LOVE. Which, as Colossians says, is the BOND of unity. Without love, there will be no unity.
 
     3. If You’re Still a Slave to Sin
“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6 )

Once your old man dies, (or as Romans puts it “it’s crucified with Christ”) then we should no longer be slaves of sin. Sin shouldn’t own us. Will we still sin? Yes. Will there still BE sin? Yes. But, it shouldn’t rule us anymore. And when we sin, our spirit should grieve.  
 
 
     4. If You’re Not Bearing Fruit
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." (John 15:1-8 )

I talked about this a few weeks ago. So, just to expound briefly here, if we’re new in Christ, we are branches in Christ. He is the vine, and in Him, we MUST bear fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we’re not bearing these things we need to take a look at our lives. Because the branches that don’t bear fruit, as it says in John 15:6, are cast into the lake of fire.  


     5. If You’re Not Renewing Yourself Daily
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16 )

When we give our lives to Christ, we should yearn to be more like our Father. Most little boys want to be “just like daddy when they grow up,” right? So we, as Christians, should desire to be like OUR Father and to learn about Him, and please Him, bringing glory to His name. In this way, we renew our inner man daily by reading His word, praying, fasting, attending services with other fellow believers, and encouraging and exhorting each other in the body of Christ.  
 
 
Friends, are you holding a little too tightly to your skeleton? Have you not fully forsaken the old man? Have you done these things, yet still can brush up on any of the points above?
I know there’s always room for improvement for me.
 
So, let’s work on them together.
 
Let’s try our hardest to be Lights for Christ in the midst of a darkening world.