10-28-05
We are commanded not to harden our hearts, but I wonder if we are even aware of the things
that cause the coarsening of our hearts. If aware, we are guilty of blatant disobedience if our
hearts are not the hearts of flesh they should be. What causes a heart to return to its original
stony composition?
When we fail to heed our conscience our hearts will coarsen. The conscience that speaks in
futility at some point will become completely unhinged from our consciousness. The seared
conscience and the heart of stone are two sides of the same coin. We must not fail to inform
our conscience from God's word, though, for only such a conscience can be trusted.
The person who harbors sin will harden his heart. Failure to live a life-style of immediate
confession and repentance leads to joylessness and lack of peace - two tell-tale signs of a
hardened heart. The season of pleasure associated with sin is usually the brief gratification
of some appetite. That pleasure dissipates far more quickly than the turmoil of mind and
blackness of soul that are the harbingers of the heart on the path of stone.
Willful disobedience will quickly strip the flesh from one's heart. How many of us are familiar
with the commands of Jesus, yet the one we acknowledge as master with our mouth we make
a babbler with our lives. This is the surest and quickest path to a heart of icy stone. If you are
a Christian suffering from a darkness of soul rather than glorious joy and a burdened mind
rather than the lightness of peace then likely you are also ignoring the commands of your
master. We may hold back because the commands appear themselves to be burdensome
and we fear that they will sap our joy and peace. We must then live a life of faith for we are
promised that they are not burdensome. He is not only our master, but our counselor and our
constant companion. Trust Him and return in repentance to the joy of the obedient heart of
flesh.
Dale
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