Heart Transplant

Today, I listened to a speaker from the LDS General Conference, held every six months and broadcast on BYUTV. Elder Renlund gave a very insightful analogy that I would like to recount here, because it is so relevant to what I am trying to do with this blog.

He talked about how a heart transplant procedure is done. The human body's reaction to receiving a new organ is to reject it. Medications have to be administered to help the body suppress this reaction and accept the new heart. People have to continue taking this medication daily to prevent problems from occurring. He was surprised at how often he would come across people skipping doses and becoming negligent about their medications.

He related this to the mighty change of heart we experience when we are converted through Jesus Christ. The tendency of the “natural man” is to reject the new, spiritually changed heart. We must actively administer “medications” that will keep our heart from hardening and turning back into stone. These medications are, of course, regular prayer and scripture study, service, worship, and obedience to the commandments, etc. In other words, living what we believe. If we skip doses and become negligent about our prayers and study, we can slip back into old habits and our hearts will not stay as close to Jesus Christ.

Thanks for the great analogy, Elder Renlund! I hope that I am in my small way helping my readers to remember to keep their hearts soft and close to the Savior.