Heart Attack

Ezekiel 36:26

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.

I was absolutely stunned when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech by saying that Beyonce had a better video. Young Taylor stood there with her mouth open in disbelief as the crowd booed Kanye with disapproval. It’s like I was watching a reversal of Rep. Joe Wilson when he rudely interrupted President Obama in the House of Congress. Then earlier that day I couldn’t believe how irate Serena Williams became as she cursed at the Line Judges. There seems to be an epidemic of disrespect and meanness spreading faster than H1N1 in our country. America had a heart attack and it started in the house of Congress. Whenever there are issues with the heart it’s because there is a blockage in the arteries.

Spiritually, America is suffering with a hard heart that has been stiffening over time because of our inability to deal with our issues. We played around with them when we studied the exit polls and looked at how older whites were voting for McCain and younger college educated whites were voting for Obama. We had heartburn when former President Clinton mentioned that Obama would win South Carolina because of the black vote. We had heart palpitations when Jesse Jackson said he wanted to cut Obama’s testicles off because the “N” word was talking down to black people. Eventhough, CNN did a wonderful job with “Black in America”, we still don’t want to talk about racism in America.

We made great advancements in coming together as a people of all races, beliefs and backgrounds to elect our first African-American President but we have not dealt with the issues of the heart. What we are angry about is not what we are really angry about. The Elephant in the living room is not the democratic elephant spending money on “Big Government,” if that were it somebody would have went off a long time ago when we incurred a trillion dollar deficit over a war that we lied about. Could it be that the racial tension in America has lay dormant for so many years that it’s caused blockages in our relationships and surfaces in ideological arguments? Could it be that we have a Christian exterior but the heart is turned to stone? People will know we are Christians by our Love. With disrespect spreading faster than H1N1, we need a cure and the only vaccination is the blood of Jesus.

During the time of Ezekiel, Israel was a corrupt Nation. God said their ways were so corrupt that they were like a woman on her menstrual cycle (Ezekiel 36:17). The way we are treating each other in America is just nasty. God told Ezekiel “I’m getting to the heart of the matter." There are three things God needed to do for Israel that he also needs to do for the “United” States of America:

1. Verse 25 - I will cleanse you with water from all filthiness and idols. Our morality has been corrupted by our idols which are money and greed. God has to cleanse us so that our motives are right. While we are arguing over surface issues our country is dying with heart disease, literally.

2. Verse 26 - I will give you a new heart and put my sprit within you. Our only hope in America is a heart transplant. We will never be able to work across party lines and racial lines until our hearts have been fixed. The Holy Spirit is able to regenerate our hearts so we can love each other with the Love of God. God is a heart fixer and a mind regulator.

3. Verse 27 - I will put my sprit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my Judgments and do them. When our hearts are right in God’s sight then we are able to carry out his statutes and his word. The only way for this country to live out the true meaning of its creed that all men our created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights such as Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is that we need a heart transplant. God has to make our hearts soft again. We don’t know how to love each other because we are so much into seeking our own way that we have forsaken God’s way.

Each of us must be the change we want to see. Last night Beyonce personified that grace when she called Taylor Swift back up during her award for Video of the year. She showed a great heart by allowing this young lady the dignity of receiving her award without a disrespectful interruption. Everybody deserves respect even when it appears you’ve lost.

If we are going to turn the tide of disrespect we each need to search our hearts for any kind of hatred, racism, or sin and ask God, “ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

In Jesus Name,
Amen