Hearts of stone
The day I saw a fisherman hit his son with firewood, I couldn’t help but believe that the father had a heart of stone.
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I was driving along the beach road towards Korle Bu when I noticed the man running after his son like a hunter chasing a prey.
Rocky grounds
The day I read that a farmer went out to sow seeds and some of the seeds fell among rocky grounds so that they couldn’t grow to bear fruit, I longed to understand why those seeds failed to grow although they germinated.
The Lord Jesus explained that those ill-fated seeds didn’t have enough soil to grow in, but I still couldn’t understand the full import of the scenario until I saw the stone-hearted fisherman try to kill his own son in the name of discipline.
For just as stony soil cannot assist germinated seeds to grow into full-blown crops and bear fruit, so a stony-hearted person would be deficient in compassion that is needed to groom offspring.
Caustic heart
One day I drew the attention of a young mother to her need to be gentle and accommodating towards children who lived with her. But she told me, “Sorry, I’m caustic in nature. I cannot be what you are trying to let me be. I cannot let go without retaliating!”
I didn’t know the meaning of the word “caustic” which she used to describe her attitude, so I looked for the meaning and got synonyms like corrosive, acidic, razer-sharp, unkind, burning and bitter.”
The human heart, which is the seat of our emotions, is described as dreadfully wicked. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). This means the heart is stony, rigid, unfeeling, adamant, capable of committing every atrocity under the sun.
Unrestrained cruelty
We are witnesses to unrestrained cruelties committed by humans against other human beings. Examples include secret and open murders, senseless wars, and wicked deals of all kinds. Lack of fellow feeling, which makes us turn away when we encounter the needy, is an aspect of stone-heartedness.
Tears are alien to people with stone hearts. They never experience broken-heart conditions because they are, as the lady told me, caustic in nature.
It is significant that “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) when he mourned with Mary and Martha on account of the death of their brother Lazarus.
For Jesus was the epitome of love, compassion and gentleness – and this showed in the way he treated people.
To bear fruits
Soil that is impervious cannot absorb water and therefore cannot support crops. Humans are created to be crops (such as vines) that are meant to bear fruit. We bear the fruit of love, kindness, care, patience. Only when our hearts are absorbent can we bear virtuous fruits and be our brothers’ keepers.
Stony-heartedness makes us unwilling to obey God. King Pharaoh had a stony heart, so he failed to obey God’s instruction to free his people.
Some people think Pharaoh was exonerated because the Bible says God hardened his heart. But Pharaoh’s heart hardened when he intended not to obey God.
Hardened hearts
If “God hardened” Pharaoh’s heart, it was because Pharaoh first hardened his own heart. When you keep on hardening your heart, God gives you up to do what you want (Romans 1:24-26)—with dire consequences.
Stones are formed when particles and various substances gradually pile up over a long time. Similarly, gradually piling up wickedness can harden our hearts! Thus, our hearts get stony when we consistently disobey God and choose the path of wickedness.
God does not harden willing hearts! Instead, God desires to give us a better heart, a softer heart, a heart that can love and feel for others; a heart that can be open to welcome him and live for him; a heart that can say, “I’m sorry” and mean it, and who can say, “Please” and “Thank you.”
New heart
God promises us a new heart: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
What else would he do? “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (v. 27). In effect, God wants to replace our stony, stubborn hearts with hearts that are tender, loving and responsive to the needs of others.
That is a great promise, which is linked to 2 Corinthians 5:17 where we become new creation when we invite Christ into our lives. One of the best requests we can make of God in accordance with his will is to ask him to give us the promised new heart.
The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers.
E-mail: [email protected]
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