A Tender Heart

​This devotional has been on my heart for some time.
 
I want to share with you today an alarming trend in America that is destroying relationships.

​Our nation is fast becoming a hard-hearted, unkind, unforgiving, hateful people.
 
Genuine love and concern for one another is in short supply in America. Of course, people of every stripe say they love one another. But the truth is love cannot flow from hard, unkind, unforgiving hearts. Having served as a pastor in Christian ministry for over forty years, I have encountered many people, non-Christian and Christian, who would do well to heed Paul’s advice in our word for the week.
 
In Ephesians 4:31 Paul writes “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander, be put away from you along with all malice.” Paul exhorts us to put this icky stuff away from our lives. How can you and I have healthy, meaningful, mutually satisfying, lasting relationships with others if our hearts are hardened with this emotional poison?
 
When God’s Word tells us what not to do, it always follows with what to do.
           
Sad to say, many hearts today are tough as nails. Hard as a rock. Ephesians 4:32 is the antidote to verse 31.
 
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven you. “Ephesians 4:32
 
As a professing follower of Jesus Christ, it is my personal responsibility to put away the poison and put on kindness, tenderness and forgiveness…in the same way God has forgiven me in Christ. I love the phrase “tender hearted.” Just saying “tender hearted” softens my heart which is tempted to harden because of life around me.        
           
Truth is it is way too easy to develop a hard heart in our current culture.
 
When you consider the heart breaking, hard-heartedness of abortion, sexual crime, injustice, brutal violence, bullying, discrimination, prejudice, degrading, demeaning profanity, immorality, political correctness, slander-filled rhetoric, vicious verbal attacks, hate speech, oppression, terrorist attacks, and daily bombardment of breaking news that breaks the heart, your and my heart can harden in a hurry.
 
Who hasn’t shouted a few choice words toward the television when you hear of the hard-hearted mistreatment of our fellow Americans? I know my spiritual/emotional blood pressure rises quickly. I have been guilty of hardening my heart.
 
The devil, our real enemy, (Ephesians 6:10-20), is a divider who specializes in hardening hearts so people will hate each other instead of loving one another.
 
Hard hearts beat with Satan’s hatred. Soft hearts beat with God’s love.
 
Hebrews 3:12-13 warns us “Take care, brethren, least there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  
 
Sin is deceitful. Satan uses sin to harden our hearts toward God and people. Could it be that we sin against each other when our hearts, words and deeds lack kindness, tenderness and forgiveness? I am convinced that is true.
 
Tender, kind, forgiving hearts are vital to healthy relationships.
 
Two words of encouragement are on my heart for the body of Christ today.
 

1. The mission of the church of Jesus Christ is to evangelize the world (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).

 
Our primary purpose is to witness for Jesus and win lost sinners to the Lord. How can we win spiritually lost, hurting people if our hearts are hard? A loving, kind, tender, forgiving heart is necessary for reaching and winning lost people to Christ.
 
·      A hardhearted person will be open to receiving Christ when a loving, caring, sensitive Christian shares God’s love with them from a soft heart.
 
      2. A tender heart in no way means Christians must tolerate sin.
 
Tender hearts uphold truth. Soft hearts do not trash or toss the truth. A compassionate heart, beating with the love of Jesus Christ, never compromises convictions. You and I can share our beliefs unashamedly, firmly, and wisely with a soft touch. (See I Peter 3:14-15).
 
Today the name of Jesus is openly taken in vain, mocked, ridiculed and blasphemed. Christians are marginalized, vilified and demonized. So, what is new? The world persecuted Jesus and will persecute His followers (John 15:20).
 
·      Persecution is not permission for having a hard heart.
 
 My fellow Christian, in these last, difficult days (see II Timothy 3:1-15), do not allow the world to harden your heart. Instead, let God’s Word and the Holy Spirit keep it tender and soft.
 
BE HONEST. If your heart is hardening, ask the Holy Spirit to soften it.
 
Why not be like Jesus whose name you claim? Be a kind, tenderhearted, forgiving person every day.
 
A Word For Your Week: Tenderize my heart