“Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, today, after so long a time, as it is said, today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” – Hebrews 4:7 (KJV).
Hardness of heart often makes people miss God and his blessings. One of the dangers of sin is that it hardens the heart of the sinner making it difficult to take God at His word. Most people have had the opportunity of hearing the gospel preached to them several times but they have consistently hardened their hearts to the gospel. Satan, also referred to as the god of this world (the evil system of the world), often causes people to harden their hearts to the gospel so he can rob them of salvation. Some, even under conviction of the Holy Spirit, have refused to commit their lives to the power of the gospel as a result of hardness of heart.
Satan blinds the hearts of people so they will not see the gospel for what it is. The blindness of mind results to hardness of hearts. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, less the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them” – 2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV).
However, it is not only non-Christians that have the problem of hardness of hearts. Christians sometimes harden their hearts to the gospel. The following reasons could be attributed to the hardness of hearts by the Christians:
1. A great shock and amazement or surprise at a miracle, as in the case of the disciples that Jesus rebuked (Mark 16:14). This is a case of relating to the natural more than the supernatural.
2. Made up mind – when one’s mind is already made up on an issue or choice, the heart could be hardened to God’s will or the gospel.
3. Pre-conceived idea could lead to hardness of heart.
4. Tradition or clinging to the way it has always be done can cause hardness of heart making one to resist change.
PRAYER: Oh God, heal me of hardness of heart.
Rev. Vincent Diolu