After a lifetime dedicated to healthy hearts and bodies for others, not so long ago I found myself totally dependent upon other doctors to save my life. It's ironic that the organ that has drawn my lifelong attention should almost be the end of me.
The heart is remarkable, the most vital organ of the body. Make a fist and you've approximated the size of your heart. And it weighs only about a pound. The average heart beats 70 times a minute, over 100,000 times per day, almost 36,800,00 beats a year. Every day it pumps 2,000 gallons of life-giving blood throughout the body. I know from personal experience as well as from science, that the heart is amazing, but not indestructible! One day I joined the 1.5 million Americans who have a heart attack yearly. 500,000 men and women die annually from cardiovascular disease.. that's one death every 32 seconds.
During my lifetime of medical practice, my specialty was internal medicine with a subspecialty of nuclear medicine. I've attended hundreds of patients with cardiovascular disease and interpreted countless electrocardiograms (EKGs) and cardiac nuclear studies to determine the health of the heart. Still, with the best research at my fingertips and having taken good care of my own heart, my attack caught me by surprise...and almost took my life. Thankfully, long ago I came to the conviction that there had to be more to life than the physical existence my heart sustains. I think that is why we often refer to the center of our lives in terms of the "heart" -- broken hearts, hard hearts, tender hearts, good hearts, mean hearts. It's the best term to describe a person's innermost motives -- morally, intellectually, and spiritually. That's why the Bible speaks of the heart more than 1000 times as the center of our lives. "As a person thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Are you aware that God has already given you and humankind a "spiritual EKG?" As the Creator of the human race who knows all about us, God has made the ultimate diagnosis. His diagnosis, found throughout the Bible, uncovers the disease of our hearts: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 ). "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). God's diagnosis declares the problem. God's prognosis reveals the outcome..."It appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Spiritual death and judgment are the destiny of the man or woman with a diseased spiritual heart.
The way to spiritual health is to accept God's diagnosis -- the fact that everyone is born with a sinful heart. "Unless one is born again, he (or she) cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). We must have a new start so that the sinful nature we were born with can be overcome.
Fortunately, God has prescribed an ingenious and surprising remedy for our hearts -- a spiritual heart transplant. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (in our place), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life" (John 3:16).
When Jesus was crucified, two thieves were crucified with Him. One thief scoffed, "If You are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And Jesus said to Him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:39-43).
Both thieves made a decision. One realized his heart's condition, chose to believe in Christ as his Savior, and was promised eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ. The other chose eternal death simply by remaining in his unbelief about who Jesus was and doing nothing about his heart's terminal condition.
What about you? How's your heart? Today you and I are faced with the same decision. "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). If you were struck down unexpectedly, as I was, are you prepared to enter heaven? Only putting your trust in Jesus Christ who died in your place will get your heart right and bring you eternal life in heaven: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:26).
You can pray a prayer of faith like this one:
"Dear Father in heaven, it is my desire to admit that I am a sinner. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose again from the dead, and my sins have been forgiven. I personally call upon You in faith and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Thank you for the gift of eternal life in heaven and peace with You now. Amen." If you prayed this prayer from your heart, God promises, "He who hears my Word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from (spiritual) death into (spiritual) life" (John 5:24).
With that decision, your prognosis changes from spiritual death to spiritual life. And to keep spiritually healthy, I'd recommend that you:
Written by Dr. Claude Van Andel
Reprinted with Permission of the American Tract Society.