Is Your Heart Hard?
What does it mean to have a hard heart? Hardness is defined as obduracy and impenitence. A hard heart is unrepentant of sin and is not contrite. Romans 2:4-5, among many places, speaks of the wrath that a hard and impenitent heart deserves.
The Bible speaks about the hardness of man’s heart numerous times, but how does a heart get hardened in the first place?
Hebrews 3:13 states very clearly that the deceitfulness of sin hardens our hearts, which God allows to happen in his longsuffering.
“[13] But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Have you ever willfully gone against what God’s word says is right? (easy to do when we don’t know what the Bible says)
Have you ever grown apathetic to sin in your life?
Have you ever found yourself acting like a self-righteous hypocrite (Rom 2:1-5)?
If you think that there’s no way your heart is hard or could become hardened, you might want to consider that every single person on this planet, saved or not, answers yes to all three of those questions. We all fall short of God’s perfect standard. We’re all sinners freely offered atoning grace by Christ Jesus (Rom 3:10, 21-26). We’re all capable of sinning and, therefore, having our hearts hardened by it.
Even after we’re saved there remains our flesh that we must continually battle through the power of God’s Holy Spirit working in us (Gal 5:16-26). Because of our sinful nature, we still have areas in our hearts and minds that are calloused by sin. The antidote to our desperate condition is faith in the truth of God’s Word.
By His Word, we learn we can be saved from our sin by grace through faith without works (Eph 2:8-9).
By His Word, we can access all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom found in Christ alone (Col 2:1-3).
By His Word, we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:1-2).
By His Word, we learn about the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering which ultimately leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4).
None of us has “arrived” in our Christian walk. God didn’t have to arrive because He always was. He is above all (Eph 1:20-23).
None of us has a monopoly on truth. God is true (Rom 3:4).
None of us has a perfectly pure heart. God is holy and every word of His is pure (Pro 30:5).
No matter if you’ve just trusted the gospel or have been a Christian for 50 years, we all have so much to learn before an omniscient and omnibenevolent God and Savior. Let us humbly encounter the God of the universe through His word, so that we can let His words chip away at the calloused areas of our heart that still need softening by His grace.
