The world has a way of giving us callouses. Stress and frustration are all around us, scraping against our daily lives, weakening our guard and wearing us down. Over time, our soft responses can develop edges, our patience can erode into irritability and our once tender hearts can harden like cement...right under our Christian noses.
We know we are to be compassionate people—able to love deeply and without restraint. We’re supposed to be different from the rest of our self-centered, impatient culture. Lights in the darkness. People possessing peace despite our abrasive surroundings. But even with our best efforts, we can so easily slip into behavior that looks and sounds anything but Christ-like.
Truth is, we need to give ourselves regular heart exams, asking tough questions about how tender we really are towards those around us and, most importantly, towards God Himself. Have we grown dull from the rub of our cultural negativity? Have we become short of patience at work, at home and even towards those we love? Have we developed apathy and resistance to the ocean of need around us?
If so, let's run to Jesus, who specializes in renewing and restoring. He can chisel our hardness into pliability and breathe new life into places where we have begun to die. He will gladly remove our callouses as we spend time in His presence and mold us into soft-hearted people once again...we need only to ask.
“God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” —Psalms 51:10 HCSB