I recently spent three days in the hospital listening to Doctors explain that my heart sometimes beats way to fast. They then described various ways to make it work the way it should. There is medicine you can take to slow it up, or you can actually do some surgery that involves cauterizing various places around the heart. They could even implant a device inside me that would regulate my heart rate. All of these options were for the purpose of “fixing” the heart. In my case, we are trying medicine.

I was amazed at the ways one can fix a heart. Evidently, there are lots of people who need help to make their physical heart work normally. And there are even more people in our world whose emotional heart does not work right. When people talk about following Jesus, they are often afraid that they will not get it right. They are not sure how to love God, or how to love others. They worry about being worthy enough to receive God’s love, or how to live in response to that love.

God knows we need some help with our spiritual hearts and he too has some treatment options that can fix our hearts:

1. Baptism is much like heart surgery. Our old self is put to death and we come out of the baptism water as a new person.

2. The Holy Spirit lives in us. It is much like an implant to help us live our new lives in a way that pleases God.

3. The Bible serves as medicine that instructs and guides us in how to live.

Help me to love you with all of my heart.
If you have wondered if you have the heart to follow Jesus, let me assure you that God knows the heart you have. He has ways to help you turn your heart to him and live the life he has planned for you. I would enjoy visiting with you about having a heart for God. Write me at steve@hopeforlife.org or join the blog discussion at www.hopeforlife.org.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)