Something New for 2026

 

[The Lord said] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV).

 

Today, we are on the eve of a brand-new year, and many of us are making resolutions about those things we know we must do, like losing weight, exercising, and eating healthier. We also begin to list out what we need to do spiritually, like reading the Bible and praying every day, using our gifts and talents in God’s service, to be more loving, Christ-like, and obedient to God’s word. The only problem is that while we resolve to do these things, our resolve soon fades because we really don’t have the power to keep them. And it doesn’t have to do with our will power, but rather because circumstances beyond our control happened. And so, as we enter this New Year, we need a new beginning, which starts with a new heart and new spirit. This promise is given to us by the Lord through the prophet Ezekiel in our reading today.

 

The first thing we see is the need for a “new heart.” This new heart is more than a bodily organ that pumps life-giving blood to the rest of the body. The heart is symbolic of all that it means to be human. Having such a new heart will give us the presence of Jesus inside us. Today, with all that is happening in our world, our hearts are becoming hardened. But God can give us a heart transplant, where He’ll remove our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh, that is, a heart that is open to all God has.

 

But beyond a new heart, God also wants to put a new spirit inside of us. God gives us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of power. In the Old Testament that word for Spirit is “ruach,” which means wind or breath. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the breath of God. I have had those moments when I simply couldn’t breathe well. Fortunately the doctors were able to find the arterial blockages and stent them allowing the blood to flow freely to my heart and lungs, thus making it easy to breathe again. This is the spiritual work of the Holy Spirit within us.

 

Like the new heart, the new spirit begins when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is seen when the disciples first encountered the risen Jesus, and it says Jesus breathed on them, that is the very breath of God, the Holy Spirit, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)

 

We also need a new beginning. We can change! But we cannot change on our own. Change comes from within. That’s what transformation is all about, it’s a change that takes place on the inside. And that’s the beauty of the promise given by God through Ezekiel is that we’ve been given a new heart and a new spirit, that is, God’s word written on our hearts, and the Holy Spirit being placed within us.

 

And so, as we look to start this New Year, let’s do so by asking God to give to us a heart that is new, a heart that has been cleansed through confession and forgiveness, and then ask the Lord for a renewed spirit through a genuine Holy Spirit revival in our lives and in the life of the church.