Friday, September 24, 2021
Hard-Hearted
“Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 NLT).
I think the easiest place to get a hard heart is in church. Maybe that surprises you. You might say, “No, the easiest place to get a hard heart is hanging around with godless people.”
Yes, you can get a hard heart around those people. But I think it’s easier to get a hard heart in church. Here’s why. Someone who’s doing things they shouldn’t be doing could come to their senses and say, “This is horrible. I need to change my life.”
Maybe they’re thinking, “I need to get right with God. I need to go to church. And I need to have my life changed.”
In a way, such a person may be a little closer to the kingdom of God than the person who’s in church. That’s because someone sitting in church might be thinking, “I know this stuff. I’ve heard it all since I was a kid.”
You can hear the truth and not respond to it, which is how your heart will become hardened. The same message that can change one life can cause another to say, “I’ve heard that. I know all about that,” and they reject it.
You see, the Holy Spirit will bring you so far, and then you have to respond. The Holy Spirit won’t force you to believe. The Holy Spirit will show you what you need to do and why. But then you have to act on it.
The writer of Hebrews warned, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12 NLT).
So watch out, because you don’t ever want your heart to become hard. Instead, you want to have a heart that’s open and responsive to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Copyright © 2021 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
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