“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’”
Hebrews 3:12-15
For as many questions that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart brings, the one resounding point of application scripture makes is, do not harden your own heart Rather than explain to us what appears as an affront to man’s freedom, the Bible uses it as an illustration and stark warning for those who would fail to submit themselves to God’s direction for their lives. For the follower of Jesus, the point is made with terrifying clarity and the responses are often similar, “I do not want to have a hard heart! How can I make sure I never do?”
The answer is found in the path of discipleship. Discipleship is the spiritual training I undertake to keep my heart tender to the instruction and influence of the Lord in my life. Unfortunately for me, the natural disposition of my heart is to be hard towards the things of God. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t need to do anything. But it is: I am selfish, self-seeking, self-promoting, self-encouraging, and basically everything revolves around me. I need to train myself to be otherwise. I need to train myself for godliness. As the apostle Paul wrote Timothy,
“Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
1 Timothy 4:7-8
Constantly, I must remind myself to keep my heart tender and ready for the admonition of the Lord. To do so, I have to keep after it. Daily. I need to train or my heart will grow hard. I need to recognize there are certain obstacles in my way. Sometimes it is a content issue; I simply do not know what I need to know. Sometimes it is circumstance issue; I am discouraged from pursuing tenderness before Christ because of a heavy heart. And sometimes, much to my shame, it is a character issue; I simply lack the resolve to pursue my savior as I should. Over the next few days, I’ll look at each obstacle and some of the steps I take to overcome them. If you find yourself struggling to keep your heart tender and ready maybe these steps will help you too.
