Jesus and Heart Transplants

I was recently made aware of a young woman who needs a heart transplant.  While considering her life-threatening condition, it struck me that for her need for a new heart to be supplied someone else would first need to die.  As we approach Good Friday and Easter, the words of Jesus Christ come to mind in John 12:24-25:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  The woman waiting for a heart transplant undoubtedly hopes for a "new lease on life," but only Jesus provides abundant and eternal life without disease, pain, or medication.

Jesus did not demand His followers die to prove their loyalty to Him:  He willingly chose to die for those who despised and rejected Him.  Jesus Christ was willing for His blood to be poured out like water and His skin to be ripped into ribbons in obedience to the Father for the joy which was before Him.  If I was to offer my heart as a transplant for someone else, I could at best help one person.  Often a heart transplant isn't successful because the rejection of the transplanted organ is a common complication.  But Jesus, when He laid down His life by being lifted up on Calvary's cross, provided new life for all people who will repent and believe in Him.  This is the Gospel truth for all people we celebrate this day and every day, that by faith in Jesus who was broken His followers are made whole.

The life Jesus Christ gives is not just better but a new life lived with the benefit of a new heart.  The promise of God was spoken by the prophet to the nation Israel under Law has been expanded to all people by the New Covenant in Christ's blood in Ezekiel 36:26-27:  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."  A recipient of a heart transplant needs to take medications for the remainder of her life to prevent the body from rejecting the heart, and God gives us a new heart and the Holy Spirit.  Our unregenerate heart spiritually resembled stone:  hard, stubborn, without feeling, and incapable of supporting life.  When we are born again through the Gospel, Jesus gives us a heart of flesh that is soft, tender, and full of life.  The life is in the blood, and it is the blood of Jesus which washes us from all sin.

Loving your unregenerate life leads to loss of it, but those who are willing to deny self and follow Jesus discover new, abundant, and eternal life through faith in Him.  Have you been brought to a place where you can say, "I hate my life in this world?"  Do not despair if this describes well your feelings and thoughts concerning your life, for there is hope in Jesus.  The curse of sin is dragging you to eternal damnation and torment in hell, but Jesus came to set the captives free!  After dying on the cross, He rose from the dead victorious over sin and death - and that is the victory He provides for all who repent and trust in Him.  Do you need a new heart?  Only Jesus can give you the new heart you need.  A heart transplant only prolongs life on earth, but Jesus gives eternal life which is for today and always.