Hard

How hard is your heart?

If someone came right out of the blue and asked you “How hard is your heart?” what would you say? I imagine the most common response you’d get would be a thousand different ways to express ‘How dare you!’
This response, of course, really doesn’t answer the question …but then again, maybe it does.
The question is perceived as offensive and/or confrontational so it’s likely to be met with our fight or flight response. Avoid or engage.
Even though it may seem less significant, I believe that our likely response is a good indicator of the state of our hearts.
Allow me to switch gears as I try to make this point. There’s 2 verses in the bible, they’re back to back and they seem to be in conflict with each other:

Here’s The Word:

Proverbs 26:4 – 5 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

These verses do well in making a particular point in Scripture; often times we’re looking for “what to do” in order to feel confident that our “righteousness” is making progress. However, righteousness is a heart matter and the right kind of heart sees no contradiction in the Proverbial verses.

Fact of the matter is this: Our hearts are hard. All of them. Sadly a hard heart doesn't mean that you won't be financially successful, or popular, or highly intelligent by the world's standards. But Christ is not making you to be better for this world, He's making you better for a better world. And biblically, our hearts play a big part in how we grow. The Bible directs us to "guard your hearts with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life". Proverbs 4:23. We tend to avoid the issue of our hard hearts for various reasons that seem to culminate in feelings of shame. However, this shame isn't based on humility, its based on pride. A hard heart shouldn't be a shameful thing, since we all start out with one. But we can't ignore them. A hard heart directly affects your ability to pursue God and see Him rightly. Also be very careful, realize that a hard heart can also indirectly(unintentionally) affect how others see and pursue Him as well.
So in light of coming face to face with our current heart condition, the most important things are the reception and the response. Too many people try and leap frog over the reception and seek to build a wall of response that masks the hardness. When that wall of human effort begins to crumble, the true, hard heart shows through.
When we handle the first matter rightly, humbly receiving that our hearts are hard indeed, we’re forced to deal with several realities that help us reach the proper response.

    1.     You cannot fix your own heart. It’s irreparable.

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Psalm 28:3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

   2.      Initially, The Manufacturer doesn’t repair. He replaces it with a soft heart that He continually shapes.

Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

   3.     If your hard heart hasn’t been replaced, you can’t trust it.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Even after receiving Christ, our hearts don’t magically become like His in an instant. Having our hearts replaced is an ongoing matter. A process. As we seek to have our newness progressively revealed in Christ, we can look back to see our growth and we can look ahead to see how much more softening we need. The hard heart is marked by unbelief, and an unbelieving person promotes their own understanding over the truth of The Word.

Now, reflect again on the initial question: How hard is your heart? – Not as hard as it was, hopefully less and less, as God softens my heart, transforming me in the process.

1 Thessalonians 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.


In Him,
Cros