My heart was broken recently. Actually, my heart has been broken many times over the years.
I don't really consider myself an overly sensitive person. I'm not easily hurt, nor am I easily offended. I tend to think with logic over emotions. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt before I react to them. I'm tough, and I have endured more than my share of heartaches and have come out stronger for each of them. I've grown and matured through the tough times way more than I ever have through the easiest of times. Yet still, I have feelings, and they are deep..I would venture to say, deeper than most people feel. I think because I am relatively resilient, when I do get hurt I get deeply hurt.
I got to thinking this week about my friend Danny. He was in a motorcycle accident a few years ago and was seriously injured. We really weren't sure if he would ever be the same, but by the grace of The Good Lord, he eventually came back home good as new!
One of the injuries Danny suffered was a broken femur. To repair it, the surgeon put in a titanium rod. Titanium is one of the strongest metals there is, and it has many other advantages when used to repair our broken parts. For example, it's not corrosive, and it is lightweight. Can you imagine a rusty peice of tin holding your leg together? Or your leg weighing a couple of pounds more than it did before? I'm pretty sure if you have to have surgery to repair a broken bone, you are going to want titanium before any other material!
It crossed my mind today that life would be much easier if we could have our hearts replaced with a titanium heart. How great it would be to have a heart that is so strong that we don't feel the fiery darts the devil constantly bombards us with! For our hearts to always feel lightweight, and not burdened with the hurts and disappointments of this world. To have a heart that is unbreakable... seems like a wonderful thing!
God's word, however, leads us to avoid having a titanium heart. He wants us to instead have a heart of gold! Gold, in opposition to titanium, is soft. It's also pliable, and can be reshaped fairly easily. Gold can be turned into liquid, but the amazing part of that is that even in it's weakest form, it is still gold! It can't ever be destroyed! Even though titanium, the stronger metal of the two, can be destroyed under the right chemicals and elements, gold is virtually indestructible. It may change into tiny bits under pressure, but it's still gold and will be forever!
So, in contemplating having a titanium heart transplant this morning, I was instead reminded of God's heart of gold for me, and I know He expects me to have a heart of gold for others. It doesn't mean my gold heart won't be tested. It will certainly be refined from time to time. It will be melted here and there, and reshaped as time goes, but it will never be destroyed. As gold lives on forever, I hope my heart will too.
Proverbs 17:3 (NIV)
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart
Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)
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.
