A Heart Transplant

Dh had a great sermon today. Basically the crux of the sermon was its title "If the Heart Is Not Right, Nothing Will Be". Here is a portion of the verses that he used:

Matthew 15:

13Jesus shrugged it off. "Every tree that wasn't planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots.
14Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up
in the ditch."

15Peter said, "I don't get it. Put it in plain language."

16Jesus replied, "You too? Are you being willfully stupid? 17Don't you know that anything that is swallowed
works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? 18But what comes out of the mouth gets its
start in the heart. 19It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, lies, and cussing. 20That's what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing
your hands--that's neither here nor there."

I chose to use The Message version for this blog. He uses the Contemporary English Version in church and read chapter 15 verses 1 - 20. The bottom line is: our hearts need to be pure and undefiled. They need to be free of sin. It's what comes out of them that defines who we are.

I am praying for a heart transplant this week...that God would help me rid my heart of all the "yuck" that is in there so that what comes out is pure and holy. I want others to see the love of Jesus there and not the remnants of sin that might be there. I am reminded of an old scripture chorus that we used to sing in church:

Create in me a clean heart, oh God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not from thy presence
oh Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit
within me!