Thoughts On A Hardened Heart

In this posting, I need you to read the scripture so I can explain this posting.

Romans 9:14-26

14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," 26and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.'”

After reading this, some may say that that means God creates people just to use them and then send them to hell. And I don’t think that’s the case at all! ‘Cause if Pharaoh wanted to, he could have turned away from his false gods and started serving the one true God after seeing His mighty plagues. Yes, God hardened his heart. And the wrath of God came on Pharaoh. But during or after the wrath, any point in time he could have turned from his ways. The same thing goes for Judas when he betrayed Jesus. If he hadn’t killed himself so quickly, he could have asked the Lord to forgive him of his evil doings. In either case, they could have turned from their wickedness and destroyed their old way of life – with God’s forgiveness and mercy. So as the scriptures says, they would put the old man to death, which would have referred to their old way of life.

Yes, there are consequences to sin. But it doesn’t stop there. Thankfully there’s God’s love and grace. Now, I’d like to show you the scripture that brought me to this awesome conclusion.

Ephesians 2:1-10

Made Alive in Christ
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So if you really want change, and you don’t want to live the way have been, and you want to get rid of the things that are plaguing your life, all you have to do is cry out to God and tell Him you need and want His forgiveness through His Son, who died for you and rose again. It’s all about trusting God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. We need his Holy Spirit to help us do what we can’t do on our own. It’s not about memorizing a bunch of verses or a bunch of religious words, it’s about your heart and how desperately it needs help and be honest with God, because he knows all about you. Trust God and what He says. Start praying and have a conversation with God. Praying is just having a conversation with God. The Bible is great way for you to learn what God is about and what He wants from us. It’s a relationship, believe it or not. Life might not always be easy, but God will be with you every step of the way.

God bless and catch you later…