Is Your Heart Hardened or Soft?

I've been thinking about what it means to have a hardened heart and what areas of my life are still hardened towards God.

When your heart is hardened towards God, you can't see Him operating in and around you. A hardened heart blinds you to God's invisible realm and you only believe in what you can sense physically. 

Another thing that hardens the heart is intellectualism. You think the intellect is the holy grail which can solve all of humanity's problems. I believe that's why many people who go to university as Christians end up rejecting God. I did the same.

Now that there is AI and we have access to all kinds of knowledge - fact and fiction - at our fingertips, there is no longer any room or need for God's wisdom.

Another thing that hardens the heart is our expectation about God. 

It is written in the Scriptures that when Jesus was born into His culture, His own people did not recognise him as the Messiah as their hearts were hardened. (John 1: 10-11)

Here are some examples of a hardened heart in my every day life.

When an old friend texted me to check up on me, I told him I was in bed with a cough. After sympathising, he suggested I drink some rosehip tea. Even though he knows that I'm a Christian and I've been relying on God for years, his heart is still hardened to God as the true healer.

When I first moved in with my flatmate, she wasn't open to the idea of Jesus healing even though she's an Orthodox Chistian. After witnessing many examples of me trusting in God, my  flatmate's heart is softening up to my worldview. She no longer suggests any remedies. After she saw me looking well, she pointed up indicating God had healed me.

My late mum's friend, who has been a Christian for practically all of her 90+ years, called to wish me Happy Christmas. When I told her I wasn't feeling well, she asked me if I'd seen my GP. I told her God is my healer. When she kept insisting that I should make an appointment, I told her I trusted in God. She then said she would pray for me.

My mum's friend is a firm believer in Christ and that at death she will be with the Lord.  However, her heart is hardened to the truth that you can go directly to God here and now.

My mum, who was also a Christian, did not believe it was possible to healed by God until when she saw me being healed numerous times without medication. Her heart started softening and she was inspired to be bold and go directly to God.

Thank you, God, for giving me a heart of flesh. Help me to do everything with a softened heart. ❤️

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Relevant Bible verses:

"Yes, again and again they tempted God,

And limited the Holy One of Israel.

42 They did not remember His power:

The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,

43 When He worked His signs in Egypt,

And His wonders in the field of Zoan;" Psalm 78: 41-43

"Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God." Ezekiel 11: 19-20

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. [11] He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." John 1: 10-11 

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4: 16

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