Have you ever worked so hard that you got a callous on your hand? Perhaps while working in the yard or around the house? When I was in Ecuador, I spent days doing nothing but mudding walls. I gripped the wooden handle of that trowel for hours at a time. The first day wasn't so bad, but by the 2nd and 3rd day ... I was feeling the work I was doing in the middle of my palm.
A callous was forming. My perfectly soft and gentle palm was now rough and the skin began to tear. Have you ever noticed that when you get a callous, that after some time of rubbing, the skin becomes hard?
The same thing can happen to our hearts. Through a sermon, or a Bible reading or thru a friend who speaks encouragement into us ... I'm not sure how, but I do know that God uses people and things to prick our hearts. Our hearts get pricked and pricked and pricked again, but sometimes our heart can be pricked so many times that we don't even feel or recognize the pricking of the Holy Spirit. Like our calloused hand, our hearts become hard.
MATTHEW 13:15 "The hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes - so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them."
When my hand became calloused in Ecuador, I wrapped it up to protect it from coming even more rough. The extra care and the padding seemed to protect the skin and instead of getting worse, it got better. Our hearts are just as tender as our hands, and it needs protection.
It is difficult to hear and see God's Truth and Light when your heart becomes hard and calloused. We have only been given one heart ... keep it protected!
What a great analogy, Laurie! It is so easy to let our hearts become hardened and calloused as we walk in this world each day. I pray we take the extra time and care to protect it and guard it well.
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