Have you ever been involved with a project to "gut" a house? Imagine a decrepit house that reeked of mold and rotting food. After donning respirators and safety goggles, you are given crowbars and other tools and instructed to get the house down to the studs. At first, the work is difficult; the house was small and stifling. However, as you remove rotten, moldy boards and took out the windows, breezes are able to blow through the house.
It was rough work.
Maybe at some point you wondered whether it would not be easier to tear the house down with a dozer and rebuild. However, the man who owned the house had built it with his own two hands—it was a work of love. He was the creator of this house, and he couldn't bear to see it eradicated.
So you labored over the house—pulling nails, tearing out the bathroom, and prying floor-boards as rats ran about under the foundation. The odor dissipated as the breeze blew threw, and after much effort, you finished tearing the rottenness out of the house. Fresh boards could now be placed on the floor joists, and the house could be rebuilt.
Gutting is a dirty job, but it is necessary.
If you think about it our hearts can be handled in a similar way. Going through all corners of our hearts to rid us of destructing habits, idols, and sin is a lot like gutting an old house. But we know that we have the best foreman for the job and that is our Creator—the One who designed us and we are the work of His love.
The effort it takes to cleanse our hearts is worth it.
In Ezekiel 36, God talks about the new hearts He will give us. But first, He must rip out the old one with its foul odor and rampant growth of sin—this begins when you first become a Christian. God begins pulling and prying at the structure and throwing away the rottenness so that your heart may be rebuilt on a solid foundation, the foundation it was meant for—God and God alone. After all, we wouldn't want to build a house back on top of mildew and rotten boards; the house would be shaky and just plain gross.
However, it doesn't stop there!
God has set His mark on us—He has put His Spirit in us—and He won't leave His people. He will continue His work in us for His glory. Ezekiel 36:24-27 states it well, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
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