Good morning, strong ones!

In Mark chapter 3, you’ll see that the Pharisees had a heart condition that grieved Jesus! Their hearts were hard and insensitive. Here Jesus was, in the synogogue teaching, and there was a man with a withered hand. Jesus said to him, “Step forward.” The hard-hearted Pharisees said it was unlawful to heal on the Sabbath and in verse 5 it says,

• And when Jesus had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 

Their hearts were hard and insensitive. They knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards, but the insensitivity of their hearts blinded them to Who Jesus was. 

In 2 Corinthians 3:14, it says,

• But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.  

Today, just like in the Old Testament days, people are saying the same thing we read in Jeremiah 18:12,

• And they said, “This is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart!

We don’t want to have an evil heart of unbelief. Hebrews 3:12 warns us and says,

• Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God…

We always want to have tender hearts before The LORD, just like 2 Chronicles 34:27 says,

• “Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God…I also have heard you,” says The LORD.

See, Jesus’ own disciples suffered from hard-heartedness. In Mark 8:17-21 Jesus rebuked them because He just fed thousands with only a few loaves and they were only concerned with their meager bread supply. He said to them,

• But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to Him, “Twelve.” Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up? And they said, “Seven.” So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”

Questioning them as to the hardness of their hearts, Jesus spells out for us the characteristics of this spiritual heart condition as in inability to see, understand, hear, and remember.  

Let’s always be thankful, and never forget how much God has blessed us and what He has done for us.  

I exhort and encourage you to continue to diligently seek Him, worship Him and keep yourselves free from sin, which causes your heart to become hardened. 

“Father, I pray for my readers, asking You to reveal Yourself to them today in a way they’ve never known before. Thank You that You will never leave or forsake them. You are our all-in-all. We love you and ask that you help us to keep our hearts tender towards You. If we do sin, I thank You that all we have to do is confess our sins, and You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We bless you today, Father, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

With a tender heart,

Lisa Gordon

Gordon Ministries