Good Morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.
When you were a child, what kind of things did you like to do for fun at home? When children begin to get bored, many times a lot of parents will try to keep their children busy by digging out an old ice cream bucket and begin making a huge pile of homemade Play-Doh for the kids. You can say goodbye to the kitchen table for the afternoon as it becomes overtaken by eager playmates, ready to create new things. They dump it out onto the table and quickly begin to work it in whatever shape they desire. It is so soft and pliable it can be molded into whatever you want it to become. But over time Play-Doh can become hard and stiff, to the point that it’s no longer workable and won’t accept the adaptations of the young creators. At that point there’s not much left that you can do with it other than throw it away in the garbage.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
God wants to work inside of our hearts but they need to be soft so we can become changed into the person he wants us to be. He wants to mold us through His Holy scripture, but the thing that can prevent that process from happening is a hard and impenitent heart.
Romans 2:5-8 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
God wants to change us but in order to do that our hearts need to be soft and capable of receiving the truth of His Word. It is by scripture that we are converted into what he wants us to become. To make playdough requires following a recipe and to make a Christian requires the recipe of God’s Word. The heart needs to become soft like a sponge so that you’re capable of soaking it all up into your heart and your mind.
Psalms 95:8 – Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
A hard heart does not want to obey the truth but fights and resists it. It is contentious and doesn’t want to change. In order to have a life-changing conversion and transformation happen in a person’s life, it requires belief in what Jesus did for us at the cross and a belief in the things that He teaches. It must be a combination between the two because Jesus and the Word are one and the same. He is the Word of God made flesh.
Hebrews 4:7 – Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
A lot of people don’t like drinking hard water so they purchase a water softener. Our creator is the same way, He wants us to soften our hearts so that we can be conditioned and purified through His word.
Hebrews 3:15 – While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Someone who is impenitent doesn’t want to apologize for something wrong that they have committed, whether it is to God, or somebody else. They don’t feel any shame or regret about their actions or attitudes. They are unapologetic and unashamed about something bad that they have done. It’s the result of a heart that has been hardened through sin. This is why we need God’s Word in us each and every day. Not once a year, not once a month, but every single day.
Hebrews 3:13 – But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
The harder the heart becomes through sinful living the more it fights against the truth of God’s word. Instead of fighting against sin, it turns and fights against God. In this state of mind a person is only storing up God’s wrath and punishment because God is not mocked.
Galatians 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
The heart needs to open up like the door to a home, allowing God’s Word to enter within. An impenitent person will keep all the doors locked, denying entrance to the thing that can save their soul, the teachings of Holy Writ. Opening the door of the heart will fill you with a new desire to become obedient and to do God’s will, allowing the potter to mold and shape you.
Being contentious with God’s purpose and plan for you is only fighting against Him, and punishments will surely follow.
John 12:48 – He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Hebrews 3:7-11 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
The Apostle sums up the procedures to soften one’s heart.
James 4:6-10 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
The rejection of the teachings of Christ results in sin and hardens the heart into a state of impenitence. The heart must be broken up inside, by turning the pride of arrogant laughter into the sorrow of humility. God wants a soft pliable heart that He can pour His grace and His Word inside, converting the soul and saving us from the errors of our sinful ways.
So the next time that you take a look, deep inside the closet of your heart, ask yourself this one question….
….How’s my playdough doing?
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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