In recent days I have had 3 men in my life narrowly escape life ending heart attacks…two friends at church, and one friend living in another state. All three men are very much alike in height and weight, with only a few extra pounds here and there but not one seriously overweight. All three men are also equal in their stress levels in life. While all the factors have not been weighed in, such as diet and exercise, heredity, etc there is one thing for sure..they are all blessed and very fortunate to be here!

Since the third friend is out of state, I can only reference the two in my church, but God has shown me an amazing truth through their stories. The heart is an amazing thing, physically speaking. Strong and efficient, it tirelessly labors for years..decades for most of us..and keeps the entire body alive and well. And when things go wrong with it, the entire body suffers and can even die. We have experienced this personally. Robert was diagnosed early in his life with a mitral valve disorder, as many people are, but his continued to deteriorate to the point that it completely shredded and had to be replaced 6 years ago. And both of my friends have also had relatively "minor" procedures done now, with stents put in to help improve blood flow.

However…in both of my friends, something very interesting happened. They both had blockages in the famously named "widow maker" artery..the MAIN artery in the heart, where most massive heart attacks originate and most of them are instantly fatal. But in both cases, smaller arteries grew and developed around the blocked areas, allowing them to not experience those massive attacks! Both men were very blessed indeed, that their hearts developed other ways of keeping them alive.

But if you look deeper into that life, you discover a couple of very interesting things. Both men were constantly tired, and experienced shortness of breath. Both of them were experiencing dull pain and the regular feeling that "something's just not right". Both of them had to cut back some of their physical activities and were not able to live and work at peak performance. Both of my friends also decided to exolain away or ignore their symptoms, and it was not until they had their attacks that the true damage was known.

Now let's take this to the spiritual heart. Like our physical hearts, we only have one..and if it dies, we do too..for all eternity. There are so many people in our world that are trying to live with damaged and dying hearts, and their spiritual lives are in grave danger because of it. Every lost person..anyone who has not believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and accepted His death as payment for their sin..is living with a dying heart. Every day, every hour, they are living in disobedience to the Lord, and they are losing ground to the one who can destroy them for all eternity. Like my friends, many of them have smaller arteries that have grown around the major blockage..wordly success, fame, wealth…but these are temporary fixes that may help the symptoms, but are not a cure.

Many Christians, though, are living with damaged hearts. Through the years little areas of sin and temptation have been allowed to enter, or have not been removed through repentance, and their are blockages that have formed. Like a physical body, their spiritual life is suffering. There are signs and symptoms…Bible reading slips, prayer times grow shorter, church attendance slacks off..and soon they ate limping through life with no peace and very little joy! And not until an "attack" happens through a tragedy are they fully made aware of their condition! Or they develop little "arteries"…giving, but out of duty. Serving, but with a grumbling heart. Attending church but daydreaming through all of it. All of these keep them "alive" in their thinking, but they are poor substitutions for a healthy artery and unhindered Spirit flow!

Does any of this sound familiar? And is there any solution? Yes! Unlike a stent, this answer is permanent and eternal…it is Jesus Christ Himself! The only One who can transform, renew, and maintain a beautiful and healthy spiritual heart is the One who died to make it possible! Jesus can take any heart, wash it, cleanse it, and "surgically" remove any blockages, and that work never has to be redone. He can also take His Word and "stent" any places where sin and corruption might have just been making an inroad, and make the flow of His Spirit full again through the repentance of His child and the forgiveness He gives.

So…like my friends, are you experiencing any heart issues? Find yourself dragging through your days without seeing or hearing from God? Know that there's something just not right? Then before an attack takes place, get yourself to the Great Physician, and be healed! There are only so many days allotted to each one of us, and they are too full of ministry opportunities if we are healthy..and it's a shame if we miss them! May God renew each of us and keep us at full function for His glory!