June 11

Heart Hardening

And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. — Matt 13:4 BSB

How do human hearts become hard, like a beaten path? A child’s heart is sensitive to every impression, but as they grow older, countless influences, feelings, and emotions trample over it, causing it to harden. Every time they feel a prompting to do what’s right but fail to act on it, the heart becomes a little less sensitive to good impressions.

The same thing happens through the daily experiences of life. The constant grind of business and everyday concerns can wear down a person’s heart. We should guard our hearts, keeping them soft and tender even in the midst of busy lives. A businessperson should strive to keep their heart as tender as a child’s, humble, loving, and trusting. There should be a sanctuary in the inner life that no unholy thoughts or concerns are allowed to enter, a place reserved for heavenly guests. But too many people let their hearts become an open field, trampled by the demands of life until they are hardened and insensitive.

Another way hearts become hardened is through sinful habits. There’s an old legend about a goblin horseman who galloped across people’s fields at night, and wherever his hoof struck the ground, the soil was left barren, unable to grow anything. Similarly, the heart that allows lust, greed, selfishness, or any sinful indulgence to tread over it is left barren and unresponsive. There’s a dangerous idea that young people can indulge in sin for a time and then repent later without lasting harm. But this is a fatal lie. A heart that has been trampled by sinful desires can never be the same again.