I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God (Ezekiel 36.25-28).I was struck tonight by the phrase from all your idols I will cleanse you.
To hear so many Christians talk, our hearts need cleansed from sin, not idolatry.
But Ezekiel seems to say that idolatry, not sin, is the deeper issue for the human heart. What we need to be cleansed of are false allegiances. We need to purify our hearts from idolatry.
Sin, in this view, is more a symptom than a disease. When the heart is set on false gods sin is sure to follow. Idolatry is the virus; sin is the fever.
Thus the prayer of the prophet, to be given a heart of flesh, a heart that is soft, tender, and responsive to God. It all begins with love, a heart that loves God. And it's that love that gives us the capacity, enabled by the Spirit, to follow the statues of God.