Hard Hearted Christians

Last week the CONNECT lesson was from Mark 4, the parable about the sower. Everybody has always thought of the parable from the perspective of the sower. I challenged the class to think of it differently.

What if the 4 types of earth can represent my heart? I can't get it off of my mind that Jesus was warning us about having a hard heart, like the hard ground where the Word will not grow in my life if my heart is hardened to the things of God.

Went to visit Aunt Rhoda, she has "hollyhock" growing in the middle of her driveway. A beautiful plant with purple flowers on it. It is growing out of a crack in the cement. She said it grows for a while and dies and comes back next year the same.

Sounds like some Christians. They used to come to church every service, their heart was soft to what word of God would have them do with their lives. But now, for many reasons they think, you never see them at church except on Sunday AM services or worse only at Christmas or Easter.

Their lives are full of things that keep them out of church and from hearing God's word. People act like they forgot that God does speak on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights too! It always starts little by little, missing once in a while, then, next they get out of the habit, and finally they make plans to do things when they should be at church.

If you ask them about it, they get very defensive and make excuses. That should be a clue to them that maybe they are wrong.

Pray especially this week for those family and friends who used to come every week, even teach class and sit in the front, but now they hardly ever darken the church doors. Reach out to them and invite them back to the Fathers house. This will keep our hearts softer and maybe start to put a crack in theirs to start the process of the flowers blooming again.

Finally, ask yourself, is my heart soft enough for God to do anything with it? Do I get into arguments with the people I love and respect over things that are really self centered and inwardly self focused?

Look back over the last month, and write down all things you did to help your church reach souls for Christ. That will tell you the truth. Everything else is just an excuse.