As believers, we should also keep a close eye on our hearts. Unrepentant sin or a cavalier attitude toward the work Christ did on the cross causes our hearts to lose the flexibility and softness from when we first accepted Jesus as our Savior.
Our Hearts of Stone Bible Verses
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9, ESV
But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 2:5, ESV
For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Matthew 13:15, ESV
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.” Hebrews 3:7-8, ESV
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26-27, ESV
Our Hearts of Stone
Our hearts are essential organs designed to keep our lifeblood flowing and our bodies chugging along. Therefore, we tend to pay close attention to our hearts through regular checkups with our doctor, seeing specialists if necessary, and taking proscribed medications to help keep it ticking. Sometimes, despite of our care, we can experience a heart attack or other condition that sends us to the hospital for surgery. When that happens, part of our recovery often involves lifestyle changes to reduce stress on that vital organ.
As believers, we should also keep a close eye on our hearts. These hearts of ours can become hardened, but not because of clogged arteries. Instead, unrepentant sin or a cavalier attitude toward the work Christ did on the cross causes our hearts to lose the flexibility and softness from when we first accepted Jesus as our Savior.
Our foolish hearts so easily forget the renewal done by Christ and can return to the previous existence as a hearts of stone. Reformer John Calvin famously called the heart and mind of man as “a perpetual forge of idols.” In other words, our hearts are idol factories 24/7, manufacturing hearts of stone in place of hearts renewed by Christ.
Lest we think this can’t happen to us, here are several signs your heart may be turning back into stone.
You don’t feel it necessary to attend church every Sunday. We’re called to worship with our fellow believers each Lord’s day and should only miss on rare occasions when providence intervenes, such as sickness.
You often forget to have daily devotions with the Lord. If we’re not reading the Word of God on a regular basis, then we’re not giving our hearts the opportunity to be renewed.
You only pray when you want something from God. We should live a life of prayer without ceasing, as Paul puts it in I Thessalonians 5:16-17.
You find yourself able to live easily with unrepentant sin. Sin should make us so uncomfortable, we aren’t satisfied until we’re on our knees before the cross confessing to Jesus.
Let’s Sing a Hymn!
You might not be familiar with this Latin hymn translated by Englishman Francis Pott in 1861, but “The Strife Is O’er, the Battle Done” is a wonderful example of how we are continually being made new through Christ’s work on the cross. As Albert Bailey puts it in The Gospel of Hymns, “The words present the theological statement that the Crucifixion was a contest between Christ and the devil’s legions, in which Christ won. This is proved by the fact that Christ did not stay dead.”
The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun.
Alleluia!
The pow’rs of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legions hath dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst.
Alleluia!
The three sad days have quickly sped,
He rises glorious from the dead:
All glory to our risen Head!
Alleluia!
He closed the yawning gates of hell;
The bars from heav’n’s high portals fell:
Let hymns of praise his triumphs tell.
Alleluia!
Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee,
From death’s dread sting thy servants free,
That we may live and sing to thee.
Alleluia!
Next week, we’ll dive into “Our Need for Renewal.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Yevheniia Bondarieva
