A Hardened Heart!

The will of God is not easy to see nor is it easy to listen to God when we are in sin but the Bible tells us not to harden our heart when we hear God speaking to us. This has perplexed me to the fullest – how can I say I am a Christian and harden my heart to the things of God? It happens often and I see it every day as I come in contact with people who profess to be “Christians.” Are they saved from Hell? I don’t know but this I do know – some of their hearts are black to the things of God just as mine is sometimes!

“How do I know this?” you say, our actions give us away! The saying, your actions speak louder than your words, is not a cliché it is a fact. Only God can judge the heart but we are called to judge the actions. Everything we do and every word that comes out of our mouth is subject to judgment by our brethren. We are not to judge the world but to judge our brethren (1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 7:15-20). I can judge if your heart is hard and you can judge if mine is hard. Oh, we might have this little piece of our heart that is red and pliable but the majority of it is hard. God tells me to go here and I don’t. God tells me to do this and I don’t. He calls me to take care of my money, I don’t. He tells me to love my brethren, I don’t! He tells me to be patient and I am not! Each time I say ‘no’ my heart gets harder and harder until pretty soon I will not be able to hear His voice at all. I do not want a hard heart and I do not want you to have a hard heart. Together we will practice keeping our hearts soft and pliable so that we can hear the voice of Jesus when He calls.

Action Plan: This week ask Jesus to search our heart, listen to what He has to say and DO IT! This is going to hurt! We are going to be disappointed with what we hear BUT don’t harden your heart to Jesus because He cannot use a hard hearted person in the Kingdom of God!