Tablets of Stone versus Human Hearts
The law once etched in stone now lives as a warm influence within the believer’s heart.
Devotional Credit: Day by Day by Grace by Bob Hoekstra
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Today’s devotional by Bob Hoekstra explores the beautiful contrast between the old covenant written on lifeless stone and the new covenant written on living hearts. Under the old covenant, the law was etched externally — a perfect but unreachable standard, exposing humanity’s need for a Savior. Holiness was declared but not imparted; the commandments could convict but could not transform.
But under the new covenant of grace, the message of God’s holiness is no longer distant or cold. It is now inscribed upon the hearts of believers by the Spirit. What once stood outside us, unattainable and condemning, now lives within us as a dynamic, living influence. Grace doesn’t ignore holiness — it fulfills it by internalizing God's desires and enabling believers to walk in them through union with Christ.
Instead of demanding from the outside what the flesh could never provide, God now works from the inside, moving us to will and to do what pleases Him. His requirements are not burdens imposed but life expressed. His commands are not etched in stone but breathed into hearts. This is grace — not only pardoning but empowering — as Christ lives His life through us.
Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I have not written My law on stone tablets that sit outside of you, demanding without supply. I have written My life upon your heart. You are My letter, not carved with lifeless strokes, but formed by My living presence within you.
You are not striving to become holy by self-effort; I am forming My holiness within you. I am the One who works in you both to will and to do what delights Me. I have placed My desires in you. You now love what I love, and I give you the power to walk in it.
I did not leave you with cold commandments. I gave you My Spirit to stir your heart with warmth, with direction, with My life. You are no longer standing at a mountain trembling under law. You are seated with Me in heavenly places, enveloped in grace.
Live from the inside out. Let Me express through your yielded life the reality of who I am. You are not trying to write holiness onto your flesh — I am etching Myself into your soul. Trust Me to do the writing. Trust Me to be the message.
(Scripture references: 2 Corinthians 3:3; Leviticus 19:2; Hebrews 10:16; Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 2:6)
Real-Life Analogy
Imagine installing a thermostat in your home that only displays the ideal temperature but can’t adjust the air — it just sits there, reminding you how far off you are. That’s the law written on stone: accurate, but powerless to change your atmosphere. Now picture a smart thermostat wired into your system, sensing your needs and automatically adjusting the temperature from within. That’s the grace of God written on your heart — not just a display of what’s right, but the actual inner mechanism that brings your soul into alignment with Christ.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, I thank You that Your will is no longer an external list I must reach for, but an internal reality You are working within me. You have made me Your own dwelling place, and You’ve written holiness not on unreachable stone but into the very fiber of my heart. I rest in Your work in me today. I trust You to stir, shape, and supply every desire and action that pleases You. I am not striving to be righteous — I am rejoicing in Your righteousness alive in me.