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Editorial – Hardships

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In August 1868, Ellen White had a dream that is recorded in Testimonies, vol. 2, 594–597. In this dream, part of a large body of people began a journey in heavily loaded wagons. The road ascended. On one side was a high, smooth, white wall; on the other side was a precipice. As the road grew both narrower and steeper, they, for safety, abandoned the wagons and traveled on by horseback with only a portion of their luggage. But the path grew still narrower, and finally they cut the luggage from the horses and continued. When the road became too dangerous for traveling by horseback, a hand seemed to take the bridle and guide them over the perilous way at the places where it seemed they would lose their balance. The road eventually became so narrow that they left the horses behind and traveled on by foot single file, each following in the footsteps of another. Finally it was decided that to travel safely they would have to take off their shoes and then also their stockings, and they journeyed on with bare feet.

At this point in relating the dream, Ellen White said: “We then thought of those who had not accustomed themselves to privations and hardships. Where were such now? They were not in the company. At every change some were left behind, and those only remained who had accustomed themselves to endure hardships. The privations of the way only made these more eager to press on to the end.” Ibid., 595.

Many are not in the revival and reformation movement that were with us a few years ago. The dream partly related above explains why. We have not yet come to the last change! Will you still be in the revival and reformation movement next year? Will you still be in it when Jesus comes?

Hardships have always been, and always will be, a part of evangelism: “The opening labors of the Christian church were attended with hardships and bitter griefs, and the successors of the early apostles find that they must meet with trials similar to theirs; privations, calumny, and every species of opposition meet them in their labors. They must be men of stanch moral courage and of spiritual muscle.” Gospel Workers, 1892, 71, 72.

“The Christian life is compared to the life of a soldier, and there can be no bribes presented of ease and self-indulgence. The idea that Christian soldiers are to be excused from the conflicts, experiencing no trials, having all temporal comforts to enjoy, and even the luxuries of life, is a farce. The Christian conflict is a battle and a march, calling for endurance. Difficult work has to be done, and all who enlist as soldiers in Christ’s army with these false ideas of pleasantness and ease, and then experience the trials, it often proves fatal to their Christianity. God does not present the reward to those whose whole life in this world has been one of self-indulgence and pleasure.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 27, 28.

Editorial — A Hard Lesson

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“It has ever proved a dangerous thing for men to carry out their own will in opposition to the requirements of God. Yet it is a hard lesson for men to learn that God means what He says.” Bible Commentary, vol. 2, 1000.

Some have gone so far in presumption as to claim that Christ’s warning, that He would vomit the Laodicean church out of His mouth if Laodicea did not repent, will not happen because Laodicea is the last church in the list, and therefore must go through to glory! But contrary to all deceptive theology and philosophy, “The Lord has not given so many terrible threatenings, pronounced so severe judgments in His Word, simply to have them recorded, but He means what He says.” Review and Herald, October 21, 1890.

The destiny of the church hangs on whether she receives the straight testimony to the Laodiceans. All who do not receive this strait testimony will be spewed out of Christ’s mouth:

“Unless divine power is brought into the experience of the people of God, false theories and erroneous ideas will take minds captive, Christ and His righteousness will be dropped out of the experience of many, and their faith will be without power or life. Such will not have a daily, living experience of the love of God in the heart, and if they do not zealously repent, they will be among those who are represented by the Laodiceans, who will be spewed out of the mouth of God.” Review and Herald, September 3, 1889. (See also Early Writings, 270.)

“God means what He says, ‘I want a change here.’ Will it be the same thing, going over and over the same ideas, the same committees—and here is the little throne: the king is in there,” Spaulding Magan Collection, 166. (The words “throne” and “king” are not speaking of the God of heaven but are used in a sarcastic sense for the Adventist General Conference leaders in Battle Creek who had usurped kingly power.)

“God means what He says, and He will not be trifled with. Oh! how many shortsighted, sinful mortals plead with God to induce Him to come to their terms, while if they would only yield themselves unreservedly into His hands He would compass their salvation and give them precious victories.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 112.

“The Lord does not give light on health reform that it may be disregarded by those who are in positions of influence and authority. The Lord means what He says.” General Conference Daily Bulletin, March 18, 1897.

“We must believe that God is in earnest with us, and that He is not to be trifled with. He means what He says, and He requires of us implicit faith and willing obedience.” The Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875.

“But in all the history of God’s dealings, it will be found that although He may bear long with the sinner, disobedience will surely meet its punishment. There are limits to the forbearance of God; there is a point at which it becomes necessary to interpose His vengeance, and visibly to rebuke the impiety of men. And it is no less apparent, that those who love and obey God’s law will realize that He means what He says, and that all His precious promises to the faithful and obedient will be fulfilled to the letter.” The Signs of the Times, December 9, 1880.

“We are in the world, where, because of their sin, our first parents lost the beautiful Eden that God had given them. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, and were given permission to eat of every tree in the garden but one. But they ate of the forbidden fruit, and their sin opened the flood-gates of woe upon our world. From that time sin grew worse, till God destroyed the world by a flood, saving only Noah and his sons. Since that time sin has been steadily increasing. Men have not learned that God means what He says.” The Signs of the Times, May 26, 1898.

“Ask my institutions and churches, ‘Do you believe the Word of God? What then are you doing in missionary lines? Are you working with self-denial and self-sacrifice? Do you believe that the Word of God means what it says? Your actions show that you do not. How will you meet at the bar of God the countless millions who, unwarned, are passing into eternity? Will there be a second probation? No, no. This fallacy might just as well be given up at once. The present probation is all that we shall have. Do you realize that the salvation of fallen human beings must be secured in this present life, or they will be forever lost?’ ” Notebook Leaflets, 34.

 

Hard Heart, part 3

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The effect of sin is to make the heart hard. The more a person sins, the harder the heart becomes. This is truth that the Bible expresses repeatedly. Jesus talked about it a lot. When the disciples asked Jesus why He spoke in parables, He said, “Because this people’s heart has become hard.” Ellen White says that men’s hearts today are harder than they were in the days of Christ. When you understand the cure for hardness of heart, you not only know what to do so that your marriage will not end in divorce, but you will know how to win souls to Christ.

I was studying to be a minister and after I had studied for a while and had my first district, I realized that I still did not know anything about what I was supposed to be doing. I knew a lot of history, had studied public speaking, biblical languages, sociology, and psychology, but I still did not know what I was doing. When I first went to work as a pastor, I was pastoring churches alone. I prayed and said, “Lord, You’re going to have to help me. I don’t know what I’m doing out here. I don’t know what to do.” And in His providence, I believe, the Lord sent to me a man who was a very experienced evangelist, and I had an opportunity to work with him on several occasions, sometimes for weeks at a time. He had won thousands of people to Christ and he taught me something that I have never forgotten. When we were out visiting he used to quote to me repeatedly. “You should not feel it your duty to introduce arguments upon the Sabbath question as you meet the people. If persons mention this subject, tell them that this is not your burden now. But when they surrender heart and mind and will to God, they are then prepared candidly to weigh evidence in regard to these solemn, testing truths.” Evangelism, 228. This evangelist would say that until a person had surrendered his heart, mind, and will to the Lord, he was not prepared to hear any doctrines.

There are millions of people in America today who believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath and are not keeping it. They know truth, why do they not follow it? Because they have not surrendered heart, mind, and will to the Lord. Their hearts are hard.

Reach the Heart

“God’s plan is first to reach the heart.” Ministry of Healing, 157. Their hearts are hard and God’s plan is first to reach the heart. When you understand this principle, it starts to make sense why Ellen White said that a Christian family could do more good than all the sermons that could be preached. When you walk into a home and there is no bickering, fighting, and hard-heartedness, but the people in that home express affection and sympathy toward each other and are courteous and kind, it is like the atmosphere of heaven. This is so powerful that Ellen White says the influence of a Christian family can do more good than all the sermons that can be preached because it reaches the heart, and “The truth expressed in living, unselfish deeds is the strongest argument for Christianity.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, 240.

Jesus spent more time healing than He spent preaching. Until the door to the heart is open, preaching does no good. “Even the most hard hearted and apparently sin-encased souls may be approached in this way and understand something of the mystery of godliness and become so charmed that they will not rest until they have a knowledge of Jesus Christ and His saving grace.” Counsels on Health, 537.

The most hard hearted can be reached by helping where they need help. Different people need different kinds of help. Everywhere, people are in distress. Now people may not think you are doing evangelism when you go to help people in distress, but that is the first step. Because until the door of the heart is open, anything else is of no avail.

If a person has surrendered his heart to Jesus, everything else is going to come along. Because if you have somebody’s heart, you have all of them. Helping people where they need help; when they are sick and when they are in distress, opens the door to their heart. It softens the heart.

Point Them to Calvary

Ellen White instructed, “The minister should come close to the trembling one, and point him to Calvary, lifting up a crucified and risen Saviour as the sinner’s only hope.” Review and Herald, May 31, 1892. Often times we come into contact with people and we do not realize their condition or the struggles of their mind. They feel discouraged and stuck in a rut of sin. They need to be pointed to Calvary. This is what will happen, “There are many whose hearts are as hard as the beaten highway, and apparently it is a useless effort to present the truth to them; but while logic may fail to move, and argument be worthless to convince, let the laborer for Christ come close to such in Christlike sympathy and compassion, and it may be that the love of Christ will subdue and melt the soul into tenderness and contrition.” Ibid.

Sin makes us hard-hearted. As long as we are living a life of sin, our heart is getting harder. But when a person comes to Calvary, something happens in the heart. Sin is seen in a different light. It does not look so wonderful anymore. It completely changes your mind about sin. Ellen White said that the cross of Christ is the theme around which all other truths cluster. The cross of Christ needs to be dwelt upon in every sermon. Why? Because our hearts are hard and if they are not melted, all the truth that we can preach and teach, will do no good. She said, quoting from the apostle Paul, “The world by wisdom, knew not God. Let the wayward and hard-hearted be led to the feet of Jesus; here they may learn precious lessons of love of their Creator and Redeemer, and hope will spring up.” Ibid.

Jesus’ own disciples were hard-hearted. Luke says their hearts were still hardened. Eventually they were cured except for Judas. Peter thought he knew his own heart, but he did not. He denied his Lord, a very hard-hearted thing to do. It cut Jesus to the heart to realize that Peter would do that to Him. After Peter denied Him, Jesus looked straight at Peter. If Jesus had been angry with him, Peter would have committed suicide. But he saw no anger, only love.

A Broken Heart?

One of the things that has to happen to the hard heart before that person can be taken to heaven is, his heart has to be broken. The Bible teaches that our hearts have to be broken or we cannot be saved. Jesus said, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Matthew 21:44. Those are the two choices that every person must make. If you fall on the rock, your own hard heart will be broken, but if the rock falls on you, it will grind you to powder. When Peter ran out of the judgment hall back to Gethsemane, his heart was broken. “Then he went out and wept bitterly.” Matthew 26:75. Peter went right to the place where Jesus had prayed a few hours before, and he fell down, weeping. It was there that he was converted. He was cured from his hardness of heart and he never again was a boastful, arrogant person like he had been.

If we come to Calvary and understand what really happened, it will break our heart. The reason it will break our heart is because we are sinners. When your heart is broken, then it can become soft and tender; not hard-hearted anymore. Until your old heart is broken, you cannot receive a new heart.

“There is a sad lack of tenderness and sympathy among the servants of Christ. They do not love as brethren. They are harsh and dictatorial. Especially is their conduct toward the erring destitute of pity or compassion. Said the apostle, ‘Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.’ We shall surely be judged by our Heavenly Father in the same manner that we have judged others. ‘With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.’ ‘He shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy.’ Oh that these hard-hearted, exacting ones would fall upon the Rock and be broken, lest theirs be the terrible alternative, that the Rock shall fall upon them and grind them to powder.” Review and Herald, December 20, 1881. If I am harsh, dictatorial, or exacting, what is my problem? I am hard-hearted and I have to fall on the Rock and be broken so that I can become tender and sympathetic and receive a new heart.

Do Justly and Love Mercy

We need to cultivate mercy and the love of God among us as Adventists. One of the things that I am most concerned about in the Historic Adventist movement today is the way that we treat each other. I want us to think very seriously about our condition and realize that we may not be in as good a condition as we think. It is evident by the way that we treat each other in our homes and churches that we are not ready for heaven. The way we talk about one another, the way we act toward one another is not Christlike. We have to be changed in heart if we are going to heaven.

“We must deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God. We must let Christ into our hearts and homes. We must cultivate love, sympathy, and true courtesy one to another. The reason that there are so many hard-hearted men and women in the world is that generous affection has been regarded as weakness. If we would have tender hearts such as Jesus had when He was upon the earth and sanctified sympathy such as the angels have for erring mortals, we must cultivate the simple, unaffected affections of childhood, then we should be directed by heavenly principles which are refining and elevating in their tendency.” Signs of the Times, November 10, 1887.

A heart like the Pharisees had, Ellen White says, is the natural human condition because of sin. Have you received a new heart? That is what it means to be born again. When that happens, I am not so concerned about whether my wife makes me happy. I am not thinking of getting rid of her. I think completely opposite. My thinking is that I vowed before God to make this woman happy and I am going to be true and faithful to her and make her happy. What happens to me is not of the most consequence. The other person is of the most consequence because my heart is tender, sympathetic and I cannot stand to see that person hurt. When we can stand to see our spouses and our families and our church members hurt, that is proof there is something the matter with our heart. Jesus could not endure it. Ellen White says that He could not witness a wrong word or act without pain which showed in His countenance. He could not hurt anybody! Has your heart been changed? Have you fallen on the Rock and been broken?

If I Be Lifted Up

God was providing everything the Children of Israel in the wilderness needed, but they were hard in heart and were murmuring and complaining. So God gave them a bigger problem. He removed His protecting hand. Poisonous snakes in that wilderness began biting and Israelites started to die by the thousands. God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it up on a pole and to tell the Children of Israel, “If you will look at that serpent, you’ll be saved.” Jesus told Nicodemus that the serpent represented Jesus. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3: 14, 15. In the same way that they had to look at that serpent, Jesus said, the Son of Man had to be lifted up and if you will look at Him and keep looking at Him, and put your trust in Him, something will happen in your heart. It is a divine science that we cannot explain. The Bible says, “Look unto Me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other.”

What happens when a person comes to Calvary and starts to meditate on what it means? To most Christians today Calvary is just a story. They have a crucifix in their car, they have pictures in their homes of Christ on the cross, but they do not understand. Ellen White says that if we are going to be saved at last we must learn the lesson of penitence and contrition at the foot of the cross. We have to stay there long enough so that our heart gets changed, the old heart is broken, and we receive a new heart. We need to spend time studying the life of Christ, especially the closing scenes. It would be well for us to spend an hour a day, Ellen White says, studying His life, taking it point by point, especially the closing scenes.

What will happen if you do that? “Look alone to Jesus as your righteousness and your sacrifice. As you are justified by faith, the deadly sting of the serpent will be healed.” Sons and Daughters of God, 222. We have been stung by the serpent. The sting of sin makes the heart as hard as stone. People can be hurting all around and you do not know it. By familiarity with sin we become accustomed to it.

The Devil Wants to Destroy Your Family

The devil is trying in every way to destroy the church of God today, and the most effective way he has is to destroy the family. The way to save the church is to save the family. The way to destroy the church is to destroy the family. It is that simple. “No unpleasant words are spoken in heaven. There no unkind thoughts are cherished. There envy, evil surmising, hatred, and strife find no place. Perfect harmony pervades the heavenly court. Well does Satan know what heaven is, and what the influence of the angels is. His work is to bring into every family the cruel elements of self-will, harshness, selfishness. Thus he seeks to destroy the happiness of the family. He knows that the spirit governing in the home will be brought into the church. Let the father and mother always be guarded in their words and actions. The husband is to treat his wife, the mother of his children, with due respect, and the wife is to love and reverence her husband. How can she do this if he treats her like a servant, to be dictated to, ordered about, scolded, found fault with before the children? He is forcing her to dislike him and even to hate him.” Upward Look, 163.

The devil’s plan is to destroy the church. How does he do it? He destroys the home first and he gets us to treat each other in a hard-hearted way. And as we keep doing it, our hearts just become harder and harder. God’s plan is for me to come to the cross, and as I keep studying it day by day, the contrast between His heart and my heart becomes painful. It breaks my heart and when my heart is broken, then God can give me a new heart that is merciful, loving, sympathetic, and tender. A heart that cannot bear to see somebody in my family or in my church hurting. I have to go and try to help them if anybody is hurting. That is the way Jesus was. And when you have a heart like that, you are never asking the question, “Is my wife making me happy or not?” The question you are asking is, “Are my wife and children happy?” If they are not happy, what should I do so they will be happy?”

We will have the same care for people in the church. We will not be able to see people in the church hurting and not do anything. And what will that do to the church? You will start having brotherly love grow up in the church. We have a desperate need today in our churches for brotherly love. Our hearts are hard. They need to be broken and we need a new heart. Jesus wants to give me a new heart that is tender, merciful, loving, sympathetic, kind; a heart that is so tender that I cannot bear to see somebody in my family or my church hurting. When we get it, there will be all kinds of problems in our churches that will be solved. Pray earnestly and ask the Lord to give you that new heart, He has promised to do it!

The End

Hard Hearts, part 1

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Have you ever been in a situation where somebody came to you with either scripture, or a statement from the writings of Ellen White with the sole purpose of trying to trap you and show you how wrong you were with this text of scripture or this quotation? What did you do? Often, persons are not looking for evidence because they have already made up their mind. If you give an answer, it seldom accomplishes anything.

Jesus dealt with this frequently, and most of the time He never gave an answer. However, there are a few times recorded in Scripture when He did. I am intrigued with the reasonings of men and how they were so sure they had the Lord trapped. “The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ ” Matthew 19:3. This question had been debated for a long time among Jewish leaders with a great difference of opinion. One school of thought taught that a man could divorce his wife instantly for anything he did not like, period. The other school of thought taught there ought to at least be some big reason before a man could divorce his wife. This was a popular debate question. Could you divorce your wife for any reason or could you not?

Because of your Hard Hearts

“And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female.’ ” That is singular, one man, and one woman. Could Adam divorce his wife? Not if he wanted to be married. Jesus continued, ” ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6. A human being is not to separate something which God has joined. The Jewish leaders thought they had Jesus trapped because they knew Deuteronomy 24. “They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.’ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” Matthew 19:7-9

Why were they allowed, under the old covenant, to divorce? Because of the hardness of their hearts. They were hard-hearted. No hard-hearted person is going to heaven. That is reality. If I am hard-hearted, something has to happen to my heart or I cannot go to heaven.

Why do people get divorced? Because they cannot get along. The same things that happen in our homes so that we cannot get along, happen in church. And sometimes groups of churches begin working together and then they cannot get along. Why is it? Is it because we are hard-hearted? When we go to heaven, we will not cross the street in the New Jerusalem to avoid meeting someone we could not get along with here in this earth.

We must gain victory, or we are not going to heaven, because there will be no hard-hearted people there. “The spirit that is cherished in the home is the spirit that will be manifested in the church.” Signs of the Times, July 1, 1892. Why can we not get along in church? Why can Historic Adventists not get along? Because we do not get along at home. When we know how to get along at home, we will know how to get along in the church.

We Must Be Cured

At a Bible training school on April 1, 1906, Ellen White said, “Oh how my heart trembles for us all. Unless the hard-heartedness is melted away by the grace of Christ we shall never know what heaven is. I am pained beyond measure when I see and feel the hard-hearted methods of dealing with the Lord’s heritage. I feel so ashamed in behalf of Christ as I see how little respect and reverence are shown toward the purchase of His blood.”

The Lord has promised, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25-27. A heart of stone is a heart that is hard. The Lord says, “I’m going to take that heart out of you and I’m going to put another heart in you, a heart of flesh.”

Before we look at the cure, we have to understand what the problem is and how we get the problem. So I want to ask the question, why and how are we so hard-hearted? It has been a problem with the human race for thousands of years. They had the problem in Moses’ time. Jesus said, That’s why God allowed you to divorce your wives. It wasn’t because He wanted you to do it. In Malachi 2:16, the Lord says, “He hates divorce.” But He allowed them to do it because they were hard-hearted.

Early Training

One of the primary reasons we become hard-hearted is because that is the way we grew up. As parents we have a tremendous obligation toward our children so that they do not grow up hard-hearted. The Lords messenger says, “We must let Christ into our hearts and homes if we would walk in the light. Home should be made all that the name implies. It should be a little heaven upon the earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and polite courtesy to one another.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1886. Our happiness depends on the “cultivation of love, sympathy, and polite courtesy to one another.” Ibid.

Sympathy is entering into the feelings of another person. When my wife is happy, I am happy. If I discover that my wife is sad, I feel some sadness coming into my heart. “The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in our world, is because true affection has been regarded as weakness, and has been discouraged and repressed.” Ibid. If you do not want your child to grow up hard-hearted, every day there should be expression of affection. Do not let the devil tell you there is anything weak about it or any reason that you should not do it. Your children should hear much more affection than they hear of reproof. Before you reprove one of your children ask yourself how many times you have expressed affection to them today. Be fearful to reprove if you have not expressed affection to them.

Affection can be expressed by actions. We need to acknowledge when others do something nice for us. Recently, my wife and I had a wedding anniversary. That day we were preparing to leave and were busy from early morning until late at night. We did not take any special time to ourselves. Something really nice happened. Our daughter had purchased gifts for both of us and we both deeply appreciated her expression of love.

Are members of your family doing nice things for each other and expressing affection? If not, your children may be growing up hard-hearted. What a tragedy. Ask the Lord to help you to never let another day go by without expressing affection to the people in your family several times a day. “The better part of the nature of those of this class was perverted and dwarfed in childhood; and unless rays of divine light can melt away their coldness and hard-hearted selfishness, the happiness of such is buried forever. If we would have tender hearts, such as Jesus had when he was upon the earth, and sanctified sympathy, such as the angels have for sinful mortals, we must cultivate the sympathies of childhood, which are simplicity itself. Then we shall be refined, elevated, and directed by heavenly principles.” Review and Herald, June 22, 1886

Children are tender in heart and they will stay tender in heart if we do not make them hard-hearted when they are growing up.

Good Friends

In the Bible is the example of a man who grew up tenderhearted, but as an adult he became hard-hearted. Solomon did not grow up in an ideal home. His father had killed Uriah the Hittite in order to marry his mother. After that time, David lost moral influence with his family, especially his children. He could not talk to his children about sin and tell them not to do it because they could immediately say, “Well, Dad, why did you do it?” There were a lot of things that he would have liked to have said and done which he could not. This is one of the reasons, if you are a parent, that it is so necessary to avoid sin. Young people, very quickly spot a double standard.

Solomon was tenderhearted when he first became the king of Israel but he became a hard-hearted tyrant. “He imperiled his soul’s interest by the formation of friendships with the Lord’s enemies. What carefulness should be exercised in the formation of friendship.” General Conference Bulletin, February 25, 1895. If you form friendships with people of this world who are unconverted, it will cause you to become hard in heart and it will destroy your very capacity for happiness. “What carefulness should be exercised in the formation of friendship. Companionship with the world will surely lower the standard of religious principle. Solomon’s heathen wives turned away his heart from God. His finer sensibilities were blunted.” Ibid.

Sensibility means you are sensitive to something. Enjoying music depends on sensitivity of the ears. Enjoying food depends on the sensitivity of the tongue. All pleasure depends on sensitivity and when you lose sensitivity, you lose the capacity for pleasure and happiness. That is one of the terrible things about sin and being hard-hearted. Solomon’s capacity for pleasure was decreased. Whenever you engage in sin, your capacity for pleasure and happiness is decreased. Not because God made some arbitrary decree. You are doing it yourself and you are hardening your heart and decreasing your capacity for happiness. When Solomon’s finer sensibilities were blunted he lost his sympathy for men and his love for God. The result was, “his conscience was seared and his rule became tyranny.” Ibid. We will become hard-hearted by forming friendships with worldly people.

Forgiving Each Other

The third way we become hard-hearted is because of our failure to forgive. Have you ever met somebody who is holding a grudge? Maybe somebody really did something bad or said something bad against them and maybe it was a long time ago, but they are still holding a grudge. Holding a grudge has a terrible effect on your heart.

“We must forgive those who trespass against us, if we would obtain pardon and grace when we approach the mercy-seat. Mercy and love must be cherished by all who would be followers of Jesus. When Peter asked, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus replied, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times: but, up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21, 22. He then enforced the duty of forgiveness, by the parable of the two debtors. [Matthew 18:23-35] One was forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents, and then refused to show mercy to his fellow-servant who owed him a hundred pence. The pardon granted to that hard-hearted servant was revoked, and he was delivered to the tormentors.” Review and Herald, December 26, 1882. If we do not have the spirit of forgiveness, we are hardening our hearts. The worse that is said or done to you, the more necessary it is for you to forgive. If you do not forgive, and you keep holding that in, your heart is going to get hard.

All Bible references are from the New King James Version.

To be continued next month…