The Hard Heart – Part 3

The Hard Heart – Part 3
Matters of the Heart Series

How do we know we have totally forgiven? How do we get to the point of total freedom from the angst of bitterness and hurt? How do we prevent our hearts from becoming hard?

We must remember what Jesus has done for us. How can we look at Jesus on the cross as He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?” and continue to hold bitterness against a brother or sister? (Tweet this!)
We must realize God loves the offender as much as he does us. God is no respecter of persons. We all come under the umbrella of his authority and protection. He loves us all equally.
We are called to give a blessing instead of an insult. We are called to love God and love one another, not love God and hold one another hostage by our unforgiveness. We may be right in the situation, but sometimes we can be very wrong in our “rightness.” (Tweet this!)
It is an issue between you and God, not primarily between you and the offender. Do what God has told us to do and let Him be God and deal with the offender (Mark 11:25).

 

Have you been deeply wounded and you’ve erected walls of self-protection to keep that from happening again? We have a choice. We can obstinately protect ourselves, remain emotionally unresponsive, respond with “Sunday School” answers when God deals with us, and spend our whole lives fooling ourselves – and end up with hardened hearts. When life deals blows, disappointment comes, we begin to build up walls around our heart as self-protection, and we don’t even realize it. As a result it becomes sin. (Tweet this!) Everything we do becomes a means to protect ourselves against feeling pain again rather than pursuing God whatever the cost.

I have in mind people who drop out of church because someone offended or hurt them. As pastors, we talked to people all the time who were hurt at one time or another by a church member, and dropped out. Commitment to the Body of Christ is like a marriage. You don’t get a divorce, because your spouse slighted you or even sinned against you. You work it out. (Tweet this!) Give those hurts to Him. Harden not your heart.

Or many times people are mad at God because their lives didn’t turn out the way they expected or desired. (Tweet this!) My dad ended up a very bitter man. Life had disappointed him, and instead of trusting God, he hardened his heart and blamed everybody around him for his failures. I talked to him many times about the Lord. His answer was, “I tried that, and it didn’t work.” His heart was hard. “Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Our hearts have to be right. The standard of whether we are genuine disciples is not just a conscious desire to follow Jesus. The children of Israel sincerely believed in God. But they were complaining and murmuring against what God was doing in their lives.  And here’s the scary part: they were trying to follow the Lord. They thought they were following the Lord, but their hearts were becoming hard through murmuring and complaining. They just didn’t like how God was handling their lives (Psalm 106:12-15).

God looks at the heart. Why did God love David so much? Because of his heart (I Samuel 16:7).

We can fool ourselves our whole lives and end up with hardened hearts. (Tweet this!) Life does something to our hearts to make them less than receptive.

Before you are finished life will do one of three things to your heart: 1) make it hard, bitter and cynical; 2) soft, empathetic and tender or 3)broken and ineffective.

When God speaks do you respond with “pat” answers and feel very righteous, and go on your way through the day unchanged?
Are you a hearer of the Word only?
What has God told you to do which you have put off or are unwilling to do?
What are some ways that you have found the Holy Spirit helps to keep your heart soft?

Harden not your heart.

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