Date: Thursday, 19th October, 2023
Text: Mark 8:14-21
Author: Pastor Adedeji Fadehan
Exhortation:
We live in a world where many have lost their senses of right and wrong. Truth is resisted and suppressed by wickedness. Many have had their consciences seared. When a good conscience is repeatedly exposed to sinful acts, it becomes a habit and the formerly sensitive conscience become silenced and deadened. That is why someone can commit a depraved and an abominable act and still sleep soundly as if nothing happened.
If care is not taken, believers too can become hardened. In today’s text we see Jesus asking his disciples saying, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?” Mark 8:17-19
The disciples were forgetful of Christ’s past miracle of multiplication and had their hearts hardened through unbelief.
Many of us are also in this category today. When we forget the testimonies and the miracles God has done in the past, we may slide into hardening of heart. We begin to worry, become anxious and fearful; and begin to grumble and complain as if God has abandoned us. A hardened heart is one which has become insensitive to the faithfulness of God.
Disappointment, betrayal, failure and delayed answer to prayer have led many believers into a state of hardened hearts. They now find it difficult to exercise their faith in God.
The cure to the hardening of the heart is simply to go back to God, rededicate our hearts to Him and renew our faith in His word. He has never changed (Hebrews 13:8); He remains forever faithful. If we genuinely return to Him, He will rekindle His love in our hearts again and restore us back to a soft heart and a good conscience before God and Man.
Action Nugget: Spend quality time studying and ruminating over His word and ask the Holy Spirit to help you live according to the dictates of the scriptures.