Category Archives: Hard

Bible, Hard, Heart, Scripture, Sin, Stubbornness

STUBBORN AS A MULE

ROMANS 2:5

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” 

I’ve known some pretty stubborn people in my lifetime. I won’t name any names – you know who you are, lol. Being stubborn normally doesn’t get you what you want. It just makes everyone around you avoid you and go the other direction when they see you coming. We’ve all seen pictures of someone trying to move a donkey that has decided it was done with walking. That’s the picture of stubbornness.

The Greek word used by Paul here for “stubbornness” is only used right here in the whole New Testament. The word can mean hardness or callousness. Paul uses it here to portray a spiritual condition. You could say that these people were hard-hearted. I am reminded of Pharoah who hardened his heart against the Hebrew people. I know no one reading this devotional blog today wants to be like that.

APPLICATION

Psalm 95:8 gives us a similar thought. “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,” Remember that story? This is where the people were complaining about not having any water. It’s also the place where Moses struck the rock God had appointed instead of just speaking to it, as God had instructed. One person’s stubbornness can lead others to sin. Moses’ failure to do exactly as the Lord instructed cost him the Promised Land.

We also find hardness or stubbornness mentioned in Hebrews 3:13. This is not the same word used in Romans 2:5, but it comes from the same root word. “But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called ‘today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin can harden our hearts. Sin can make us stubborn and callous to correction.

Are you being stubborn right now about something the Lord has told you to confess? Maybe He has told you to do something, but you are bowing up to Him about it. You won’t find stubbornness listed anywhere as a fruit of the Spirit. Allow yourself to be molded into the shape God wants. Then you can be His useable vessel, not some hard, cracked pot.

Father God, help me shed any pride or stubbornness that keeps me from being all You want me to be.

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Bible, Callous, Greed, Hard, Immorality, Impurity, Scripture

CALLOUS

EPHESIANS 4:19

“and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” 

My dad had calloused hands when I was growing up. He worked hard, usually a full-time job and at least one part-time as well. Those part-time jobs gave him the callouses. He painted houses for over twenty-five years after he finished his full-time job. He got those callouses from repeated actions with his hands and fingers holding those brushes and rollers. Over and over until the skin became hard. Callouses don’t happen overnight.

Paul uses the Greek word apalgeó, which literally means away from pain. This word is only used right here in the New Testament. It is translated as “callous” here. Paul is saying these unbelievers have deadened themselves to any kind of correction. They have practiced this “indecent behavior” for so long that no one can persuade them to change. Only God can do that. Paul is warning them to not follow their behavior.

APPLICATION

If there was ever a verse we can practice daily, it is this one. We need to avoid the things in our lives that can lead to this callousness towards sin. We see it all around us today. Who would have thought we would see the day when killing babies in the womb was seen as a woman’s choice. Wow! Now, don’t worry. I am not going to get on my soap box about that. I just use it as an example of callousness.

What are these behaviors Paul is warning us about? “Indecent behavior” is defined as “outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency” (Strong’s Concordance). “Impurity” means uncleanness of a ritual type (perhaps referring to their idol worship). And I think we all know what “greediness” means, right?

We’ll see later in Ephesians 5:3, “for among you there should not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or impurity or any kind of greed, for these are improper for God’s holy people.” I think we can agree that these are behaviors we should all avoid. Repeated exposure to such things deadens are response. We get dull to correction and then those callouses build. Don’t let that happen.

Father, use Your tenderizing Holy Spirit in my heart to keep it sensitive to correction.

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Bible, Calloused, Darkness, Hard, Heart, Ignorant, Scripture

HARD HEARTED

EPHESIANS 4:18

“being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” 

Unfortunately, I have known a few hard hearted people in my life. They did not care what anyone thought of them. They treated people like dirt. They spurned their nose at God or anything that was Christian. Some of those people I have seen have a change in heart. Others are still living a miserable, sad life of hate and animosity towards others.

Paul uses a word here in verse 18 for “hardness” that is only used in two other places. We’ll see those in a minute. The Greek word is pórósis which means “a covering with a callous, fig. blindness” (Strong’s Concordance). Paul is still warning the Ephesians about the unbelievers that are around them and how they live their lives. He is saying, “Don’t be like them. Their minds are darkened. They are ignorant. They are hard hearted.”

APPLICATION

One commentator said this about being hard hearted, “A man who has a blind and hard heart sees no beauty in truth, and feels not its force, and is insensible to all its appeals.” What a sad picture. In Mark 3:5 we find the same word being used my Mark when he describes Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand. “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” The religious leaders did not want this man healed because it was the Sabbath. How cold!

Paul uses pórósis again over in Romans 11:25 describing what happened to Israel. “For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;” The hearts of the Jews were hardened against Christ in order for the gospel message to be delivered to the Gentile world. They had had their opportunity, which they spurned.

How hard is your heart? Do you see others in need and turn away? We can harden our hearts without even realizing it sometimes. We can become so desensitized to the needs around us that we are blinded. We become ignorant of our surroundings. Open your eyes and hearts today and see what the Lord is trying to show you.

Father, keep my heart soft and supple, so I can be used by You.

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