When we think of going from a wrong heart to a right heart, we start out with a wrong heart. This daily devotional looks at what a hard heart means and how it gets that way.
Nuggets
- A heart of stone is a soul without faith on God.
- As we make our choices to rebel against God, our hearts gradually grow harder.
- What some don’t recognize is that God has power and dominion over our hearts.
Devotions in the From a Wrong Heart to a Right Heart series
We have been saying that character change has to get down to the heart level. That is the original source of our relationships with God.
But what does that really mean?
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36: 26 ESV)
This verse is going to be the foundation of this series. We are just going to take it in a different order.
I know. I like going off the established path every once in a while.
Ezekiel gave us in a nutshell what getting it to heart level is all about. Yes, this happens at salvation. However, it also happens daily.
Let’s start with the heart of stone. We have to get character down to the heart level because the heart is the original source of sin. With sin in our hearts, they became hardened.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
What Is a Hard Heart?
“… And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh …” (Ezek. 36: 26 ESV)
A heart of stone is a soul without faith on God.
Our soul is our spiritual part that is immortal. Because the soul is eternal, it continues to think and feel.
Because the heart of stone does not believe in God, it is not a regenerated heart. Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Lewis reminded us that, just as stones are of differing weights, people have a different level of hardness toward God. But the hardness is an element in all of them. That is important for us to take into consideration when witnessing to others.
Resource
Another element that differs is people’s feelings and moral capacity. A hardened heart does not mean that they are horrible people to others. It only means that their hearts are hardened toward God.
How Do We Get a Hard Heart?
“And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?” (Mk. 8:17-18 ESV)
As we make our choices to rebel against God, our hearts gradually grow harder.
Our hearts are hardened by our inability to focus on Jesus and His provision for us. These choices may not seem like a rebellion to us because, we feel, they are not conscious decisions to rebel.
However, they are, many times, based on our not understanding what God is trying to tell us. Here, it was the disciples. Even they were having trouble.
Usually when we read the eyes see, ears hear bit, it is saying we do have the sensory organs, but we don’t use them. That is when unbelief is clouding our perceptions of what Jesus was saying. It is hardening our hearts.
I see two issues. They were having trouble remembering Jesus’ past provision. They had forgotten all about the loaves and the fishes, the thousands fed, and the bunches left over.
The real issue was that was happening because they weren’t focusing on Jesus. They were focusing on this world.
Yes, it is easy to do that. Satan makes it as easy as he can.
No, we shouldn’t do it. We need to focus on God.
When we are focusing on this world, we are hardening our hearts toward God. It is usually a gradual hardening, but it can also, at times, seem almost instantaneous.
The writer of Hebrews likened it to a rebellion. “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness” (Heb. 3: 8 ESV).
Rebellion happens when we harden our hearts toward God. We definitely aren’t listening to His words.
God’s Power over Our Hearts
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51: 10 ESV)
What some don’t recognize is that God has power and dominion over our hearts.
M’Culloch detailed how God has power over our hearts. Some he noted are
- God equips our hearts to perform the tasks to which He calls us.
- He is in control of our passions.
- He is our Judge.
- He can change our hearts through regeneration and sanctification.
- He calls us to obey His laws and commandments, which is pleasing to Him.
Resource
Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Glossary
God has the power to regenerate a hard heart. Just think of it. He changes their rebelliousness to worship. He cuts out the sinful habits. He persists until our resistance is worn down.
Making the Connections
We have to keep in mind that mankind’s souls were not always hardened toward God. Adam and Eve’s souls were not originally hardened. They were originally made in God’s image.
Glossary
That changed when sin entered into the world. It was Adam and Eve’s choice to sin. No one forced them to do that.
How Do We Apply This?
A stone, once hardened, can be softened again. This, however, is only done when it comes into contact with other appropriate elements.
Only the love of Jesus can soften even the hardest of hearts. We have to put our faith and trust in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.
Father God. Forgive us when we focus on this world instead of You. We want to always acknowledge the power You have over our hearts. We look to You for provision in whatever we need. We remember Your loving kindness in the past and wait to be shown that again. Amen.
What do you think?
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