I recently read a story about two men who had been diagnosed and ultimately succumbed to the ravages of cancer; one was the writer’s father who for many years had allowed his circumstances to harden his heart, the other was merely an acquaintance. Before he died, the acquaintance told the writer, “I’m an atheist and I intend to stay that way!” Intentionally resistant to the gospel message his heart was like the one mentioned in (Luke 8:5, 12); he had allowed his cancer to be like a “pneumatic soil compactor” hardening his heart like concrete. The writer’s father, facing the same future and suffering from the same disease already had a hard heart but instead of allowing his cancer to harden him further it became like a pneumatic jack-hammer which broke up his heart and made it receptive to the word of God. Sometimes, and especially when our hearing is not so good concerning the Lord’s plan and will for our lives He brings a hearing aid of one sort or another to remedy our hearing problem. One man said, “Every time God’s Word comes to you, either in church, through reading, on the radio or TV, in prayer or by some other means, as scripture reaches you, the condition of your heart will dictate how you will respond.” If that is true then what can we do to cultivate a heart full of “good soil” into which the Lord may plant His seed and grow us into a fruitful plant? Listen to this weeks sermon titles Hows Your Hearing? to discover ways that you may become more productive in your life for Jesus. Visit our site at fbcwesthoff.org and click the listen now link to hear this weeks sermon. God has a vast supply of hearing aids of varying sizes and shapes to help us hear Him when for whatever reason we are turning a deaf ear to Him. May it be that we never need one of those aides but if we do, and if it takes the form of hardship or failing health, may we take a lesson from the one who allowed tragedy to be a life transforming jack-hammer softening us to the word, the hand and the heart of the Lord.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 22:11:15 +0000
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