A New Heart
Removing the flint
We are reading in the prophets for just a while longer, and I continue to be amazed at the depths to be explored here. I’ve been mulling over the content of this post for several weeks, trying to figure out how to tie it all together, when we read Zechariah 7 a couple of days ago.
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”
Zechariah 7:9-12
And there it was, the piece I was missing. I had been mulling over the concept in Ezekiel of a new heart and a new spirit, and thinking about how this is a repeated theme across multiple prophets, beginning with Moses.1 There’s much talk of a new heart, but what Zechariah identifies so succinctly is the reason we need one. God has told us how to live with justice, mercy, and compassion, but we refuse to pay attention. We stubbornly turn our backs and cover our ears at the cries of the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, and the poor.2 We plot evil against each other.
In recent years, we have seen the hateful outflow that comes from flinty hearts. The cracks in the foundations of our churches and our witness to the world have really begun to show. Anti-immigrant sentiments have led to historic lows in refugee resettlement in multiple years over the last decade, and another record low ceiling set for FY2026. We’ve seen acts of violence targeting immigrants and the Black and Jewish communities as a result of growing acceptance of the Great Replacement Theory. Shocking levels of public violence have become almost normalized due to the volume of violent attacks perpetrated against people across the spectrum from school children to public figures. Our government removes safety nets for the most vulnerable while carrying out extrajudicial killings in foreign waters. The wealthiest people in the country reach new records of wealth by the day, while the gap between the richest and the poorest among us continues to grow. What will be the cost of the church’s silence (or sometimes even support) around these issues?
We’ve gotten to a place where we will look at the same words, the same actions, the same basic set of facts, and see completely opposite things. Battle lines are drawn and vitriol drips from the lips (or keyboards) of people we have loved and labored beside for years or even decades, people who now see each other as the enemy. And even in a faith that holds the words “love your enemy” as sacred, we are told that there are exceptions to that.
A New Spirit
“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”
Ezekiel 11:19-20
For generations, our holy Scriptures have pointed to a new way of life. Long before Jesus was even born, prophets like Moses and Ezekiel spoke of an age when God would create a new heart within his people. When Jesus came, he announced the arrival of that age—the Kingdom is here! But so many of the people who affirm that good news do not hear the same message that I hear.
Don’t call your brother a fool or worthless…unless they are “libtards” or “Demoncrats,” those guys are monsters and deserve whatever they get and worse!
Blessed are the peacemakers…but that just means smiling at strangers, not actually addressing issues of injustice that harm our neighbors (haven’t you heard that’s toxic empathy???). Don’t be so political (but also, you’re not a Christian if you don’t vote for Republicans)!
You can’t serve God and money…but don’t say anything negative about my favorite billionaire. They are special and exceptional.
Love your enemies…except not when it might actually cost you something.
My heart is broken at the greed and idolatry that has spread like wildfire across the church in America, and I equally lament the complacency and silence of a significant portion of the rest.
On good days, I know that this is a pattern as old as history, and that it’s been the call of peacemakers since the beginning to seek peace3 in exile, even when others don’t want that peace. But not every day is a good day. I know many of you would say the same.
I long for the day that the body of Christ actually looks like a body that has a new heart of flesh instead of hard flint, that doesn’t look away from human pain or shrug at injustice. I long for the day that we are truly known for our love instead of living such lives that a common meme of the day is, “there’s no hate like Christian love.” I hate that it’s so achingly true.
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35
Transformation is Not Static
I become increasingly convinced over time that our problem is that we still need new hearts. There’s been a generations-long push in Western Christianity to focus on the gospel as a one-way ticket to heaven when we die, and this self-focused and aloof version of Christianity is killing us.
People will say, “I have a new heart, I’m saved!” But “saved” as a rubber stamp condition based upon a one-time spiritual transaction is not how the New Testament describes the Christian life. The new heart that the prophets dreamed of was not one of stone, but of flesh. Not an immovable, solid object but a moving, breathing one. Paul nods to this as well in his letter to the Romans, when he wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”4 Our hearts aren’t made new in a one time transaction that allows us to then continue as we were. We are always being transformed, always being renewed, we are alive in our faith and in our walk with Jesus. This is the biblical vision of transformation. It never ends. It leads to good fruit.5
That transformation also takes humility and submission to Jesus. We aren’t the ones changing ourselves or others. I’m slowly learning to accept what I cannot change, and that includes the hearts of other people. Part of accepting that is looking at what I can do. I can’t change someone’s heart or mind, but I can continue showing love and demonstrating that there is a different way than that being shown by those taking up the most oxygen in the room. I can volunteer with organizations that serve people experiencing harm in my community, I can give generously when I feel tempted to hoard, and I can share encouragement with the people that I know. I can grow lovely plants at my home and decorate for holidays, and teach my son to be a thinker and a welcomer. I can listen to people’s stories in the posture of a learner, rather than thinking that I have all of the answers.
Toward the end of Ezekiel we read of the prophet’s reproof of the “false shepherds” and the harm they caused to the people.
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have dominated them. They scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every animal of the field and scattered. My flock strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”
Ezekiel 34:2-6
However, this chapter doesn’t end with Ezekiel fixing the hearts of the shepherds. It ends with God gathering in the sheep who had been harmed.
I need not despair that I cannot fix all of these problems on my own. God will be the one to bring healing.
So when I feel overwhelmed at the dishonesty, abuse, and harm that I see in the world (and church) around me, I take comfort in knowing that God is still in the business of gathering in the wandering sheep. We will keep working, keep speaking up, keep showing mercy, while also trusting that God will feed the flock and lead them to rest.
“I Myself will feed My flock and I Myself will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will feed them with judgment.”
Ezekiel 34:15-16
Deuteronomy 30:6
This article outlines the many people who were set to be cut off from SNAP based on this year’s spending bill, even before the government shutdown is now poised to freeze the program completely. This is just one example among dozens that have occurred in the last year, where vulnerable people are being harmed by our government. Sadly, many Christians on social media have been cheering on these policies and more.
When I say peace, I don’t mean the absence of conflict but the shalom of the Bible, which is a wholeness where we seek the flourishing of everyone.
Romans 12:2
Galatians 5:22-25