By:
K.
Sim
Dan
Olson is a marathon runner and long-distance cyclist. He’s also a heart
transplant recipient. Dan thought his athletic lifestyle would ensure having a
healthy body. But at age 38, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy—the weakening
and thickening of the heart muscle.
Damaged
beyond repair, Dan needed a heart transplant. His donor was a 15-year-old car
accident victim. Making the decision to generously donate their daughter’s
organs in the midst of their tragedy, the teenager’s parents gave Dan a new
life. “I think of my donor every day,” says Dan. “And I want to show her family
all that their gift has allowed me to do.”
Before
we became believers in Jesus, we had spiritual “cardiomyopathy”—the hardening
of our heart (Eph. 4: 17-18). The Great Physician called our condition “a heart
of stone” (Ezek. 36: 26 NIV). According to His prognosis, our stony heart was unable
and unwilling to respond to God (Ezek. 11: 19-20, 36: 26-27). Untreated, we
would have been dead, devoid of life (Eph. 2: 1,5; Col. 2: 13).
But
then we received major surgery. We are also heart transplant recipients. This
procedure was performed by the divine Surgeon (Deut. 30: 6; Col. 2: 11). He
said, “I will give you a new heart . . . . I will take out your stony, stubborn
heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put My Spirit in you
so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations” (Ezek.
36: 26-27). Without this new heart, we could not be a believer in Jesus.
You
have received a new heart and a new life! Like Dan, do you think of your Donor
every day? May this new heart empower you to “love Him with all your heart and
soul and so you may live” (Deut. 30: 6).
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