Hardness Leading to Darkness

Of all the adjectives that can be used to describe a person’s heart, hard should be the most feared.  A sinful heart is better than a hard one.  A stingy heart is much more desired than a hard heart.  A dirty heart, a sick heart, even a dead heart is less concerning than a hard heart. A hard heart is a conditioned affliction.  It takes time to get your heart hardened solid.  Don’t get me wrong.  Hardness of heart is not difficult to acquire.  In fact, it may be the natural state of the human heart.  But hardness of heart does not happen overnight.  

Now obviously we are not talking about the physical state of the heart with regards to hardness.  Our focus is on a spiritual, some might say metaphysical, state.  Hardness of heart describes the condition where a person is unwilling to recognize the things of God.  These things would include, among others, God’s instructions, presence, love, peace, hope, even God’s existence.  Hardness of Heart means a person has made themselves entirely unavailable to God.  They are done with Him.

According to Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, hardness of heart leads to ignorance and alienation from the “life of God”.  Paul further explains that a hard heart ultimately leads to life lived in the futility of a person’s mind.  A person living this “mind futility life” is described as being “darkened in their understanding”.  Living a calloused life, being greedy for impurity and given up to immorality is the eventual outcome of a hard heart-er.  Of course there are those who may hear that end result and say “Hey, what’s wrong with that.”  If you’re in that camp, you may want to get a durometer to test your heart.

I, for one, have no desire to have my heart hardened.  I want a heart softer than the proverbial baby’s bottom.  But while I may desire softness of heart, the world around me, the devil and his ilk and even my sinful nature desires a heart that is well done in steak terms.  So how can I battle such adversaries as the world around me, the devil and even my own self?  Through the power of Jesus Christ!   

Paul gives us this admonition in the scripture, “But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self…”  When you are “learned” in Christ you have all the softener you need to keep hardness from your heart and live a life in close communion with God.  It is our knowledge of our Saviour and His tremendous love that we must keep ever in our sight and foremost in our lives to invite the transformative work of His Spirit, softening our hearts daily.  In this knowledge and in submission to Him we will find the power to live in the rare state (steak styling again).  Our hearts will remain pliable and obedient, following God’s direction and knowing His presence.

Ephesians 4:17-24