The Old Heart

by Joey Davis

The very first man in the world to perform a heart transplant was Dr. Christiaan Barnard. He was fascinated by the science of replacing dying organs. He was even more fascinated with the effect that a transplant had on the recipient. The day Dr. Barnard was having a conversation with one of his transplant patients, a Dr. Philip Blaiberg. Suddenly Dr. Barnard asked if Blaiberg would like to see his old heart. At eight o'clock that evening in a laboratory in Groote Schuur Hospital, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the men decided to take a look at Blaiberg's old heart.

Barnard went to a cupboard, took out a glass container and handed it to Blaiberg. The jar contained the damaged heart of Blaiberg. He then opened the jar, took out the contents and grasped the fleshy mass in both hands.

For a moment, he stood there in stunned silence. He realized at this moment that he was the first man in history to actually hold his own heart in his hands. For the next ten minutes he spoke and relentlessly quizzed Dr. Barnard. He asked about the technical nature of what had happened during the operation. He was relentless in finding out every detail. He asked the moral questions surrounding such an operation as well. He then returned the contents to the container and looked at it one last time. Then he said, so this is my old heart that caused me so much trouble."

He handed it back, turned away, and left it forever. . .

. . . Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do the same with our old sinful hearts? To have it completely removed along with its hurtfulness, hatefulness, and lust. Wouldn't it be nice to hold it in our hands and realize that its inherent problems would never creep into our lives again?

We are told in scripture that our Father in heaven desires to replace our "hard and stony heart" with a "heart of flesh." (Ezek. 11: 19) He wants to see us renewed and filled with His Spirit. However, we realize that even when this process takes place, we still wrestle with our old self.

I suppose the point of my writing is to make you aware that conversion is not a permanent transplant. It is unlike the instance that happened to Dr. Blaiberg. You see, our old heart was not replaced; it was renewed. It may not be stony anymore, but it still can have worldly tendencies. It would be nice to say, "there was a day when I had an old heart, an old nature, but now it has been taken away and can never again cause me any trouble." The fact is that our old nature still resides in us as an antagonist to God's Spirit.

Look out for the old heart. Look out for the old nature. It has a tendency to trip us up when we least expect it!