The Inside Man

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 NIV

The above-titled movie (which I don’t recommend because of the language) depicts a cleverly designed bank heist where the robbers mix in so well with the hostages that when everyone exits the building no-one is sure who had been held captive and who were their captors. In life we often look around and think we know who’s walking right and who’s not; who’s sailing free and who’s in need of some serious saving, but is it really that clear cut?

Over a decade ago I joined a couple of teams that went into prisons and shared the Gospel with inmates. It was a powerful experience hearing the hearts of tough muscle-bound women as they shared how aware they were of their brokenness and how they felt more trapped inside their own destructive habits than the bars of the prison. They knew they had a heart problem and they knew they needed it fixed.

Outside the walls of a prison though, things can look very different. We tend to look at others and compare ourselves. “I’m not as bad as that!” or conversely, “I could never show that much self-control!” We come out better or worse depending on where we want to look. Truth is, we are all on a level playing field. We all have the same “heart condition” as the inmates. Broken. Selfish. In need of “heart-surgery”. In need of a “Heart-Surgeon”. Good thing we all have the same access to one.