I know, there have always been scary, evil, violent things happening, but it feels like it’s gotten worse this year.
If we aren’t careful, we might find ourselves hardening our hearts just to get through it.
It’s understandable. It’s human nature to draw back when we’re confused, frightened, or overwhelmed. And I’m sure most of us are feeling all of those emotions lately.
There’s just one problem, though. Hardening our hearts puts a divide between us and everyone else. Especially when we think differently than other people. We need to have a soft heart if we’re going to interact well with the world around us.
A hard heart keeps us suspicious, cynical, and angry. A soft heart allows us to be trusting, understanding, and compassionate.
We have to keep going to the Lord if we want to have soft hearts. Reading his promises to us in the Bible, thanking him for the blessings in our lives, and praying for the Holy Spirit to work in us are all ways we can get rid of that heart of stone and have soft hearts once again.
“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 NIV)
How’s your heart lately? Is it hard because of all of the chaos in the world right now? How can focusing on God help you to have a soft heart instead?
Nothing serious is going on (I hope), but at my doctor’s appointment on Monday I mentioned a few minor symptoms I’d been having, and it was enough to get her attention and suggest doing some tests.
The cardiologist suggested doing a stress test with imaging in a couple of weeks just to rule out any heart problems causing my occasional shortness of breath and a little pain (I tend to think it’s mostly some extra pounds I’m dragging around and a bit of anxiety).
I’ll follow the doctor’s advice because I know my heart is important. A physical stress test will show how well my heart is working and point out any problems.
Later today I had a spiritual stress test.
I guess maybe I was a little more nervous about my heart stuff than I originally thought. And then I started thinking about some projects I wasn’t getting done. And then I worried about one of my kids as they struggled with some problems today. And then I took on the heavy weight of worrying about someone else’s relationship issues. And then I found a task I hadn’t gotten done on time. And then I bought the wrong brand of something at the grocery store and had to go back to return it.
And then I had a meltdown while we ate our supper. Poor Gary had to try to enjoy his meal while tears were rolling down my cheeks and I had to keep wiping my eyes and nose. He thought it was about my grocery store mistake, but it was so much more than that.
I had failed my spiritual stress test.
When the pressures and concerns of life came my way today, my spiritual heart was weak and it couldn’t take the stress. No wonder I became a puddle of tears!
After I had a good cry, I took a closer look at my thoughts and what led up to my meltdown. I realized I had not been opening my Bible very often lately and I had been letting my thoughts run wild instead of catching them and making sure they were true (and everything else in Philippians 4:8).
So I spent a little time in the Word before I started writing this post. God led me to the verse below, a reminder to put on faith, love, and hope as we live each day. I definitely didn’t do that when I went through my spiritual stress test today. That test pointed out a big problem with my spiritual heart. It’s gotten weak and I need to let the Holy Spirit work on it so I’m stronger next time those tests come.
I’m quite confident my physical heart is just fine, and hopefully the stress test will confirm that.
I’m going to try to look at the trials that come my way as a spiritual stress test, and hopefully my spiritual heart will be just fine, too.
“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8 NIV)
How’s your heart doing? How can focusing on God help you to pass any spiritual stress tests that come your way?
