The Plan for Transformation

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

–Psalm 19:14

When we trust in Christ as Savior, God makes our hearts alive to the things of God. He gives us the desire to submit to His rule in our lives. Yesterday, I said the process of spiritual transformation is a joint effort between God and us. But if God gives our hearts the desire to please Him, why do we need to do anything?

Think about it this way: You probably know Christians who supposedly have hearts that are spiritually alive, yet they refuse to submit themselves to God’s rule. Obviously, something else has to happen to transform our hearts.

Yes, God has given us hearts that are alive and beating. But we are responsible for keeping our spiritual hearts healthy. That means watching our spiritual diet. Some restaurant menus add a little heart symbol to indicate a “heart-healthy” meal. Sadly, I’ve never seen that symbol next to ice cream or popcorn. In the same way, if we want healthy spiritual hearts, we have to pay attention to the spiritual nutrients we take in. We have to make sure our spiritual arteries don’t get clogged with gunk that hurts our relationship with God.

Keeping our hearts healthy also means exercising our heart muscles so that they remain strong. We do that in the spiritual realm by exercising obedience to God in order to train our hearts to submit to Him. For spiritual transformation, we need not only a desire to be like Christ but also a detailed plan for cultivating our hearts and keeping them healthy.

I bet you’ve had this experience, as I have: Your clothes are getting a bit snug around the waist, and you feel a little sluggish. Then one morning, you step on the scales, and you discover why. What do you do about it? You can look in the mirror and say, “I desire to lose weight.” But that desire alone isn’t enough to transform your body, is it? You have to spend more time on the treadmill and less time in front of the refrigerator. In order to transform your physical body, you have to have a plan. It’s the same thing with our spiritual bodies: We have to have a detailed plan for developing our hearts into hearts that please God. God is the one who jump-starts our hearts; we’re responsible for keeping and cultivating a healthy heart.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Heart Surgery” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.