Our Hardened Hearts Jeremiah 7:26-28

During my quiet time this morning.. i was noticing a part of my heart that was hardened towards God's word. So I talked to God about it. It required an act of obedience that needed to be done right then. It was just a little thing.. but I did not want to do it. Okay, I will go ahead and share what it was. I am sitting in my chair in the family room during my quiet time. The room was in disarray. It wasn't that bad. But I felt like God was prompting me to take a second to pick it up. I had a poor attitude.. and I did not want to pick it up. because it was left this way last night by the kids... So I wrestled around with that while I continued time in m devotional time. The subject of picking up the room kept coming up. Well, I finally got up and picked things up.. that took all of one minute. I sat back down in my chair.. and something had changed in me. A lightness came over me. As I thought on this and what had just happened.. I thought to myself.. wow.. just by being obedient,the love of God flooded my heart and my hardened heart was softened. But that didn't seem to last long. Some other stinking attitudes rose back up in my heart. I questioned God about that. How could my heart be softened one minute and then the next minute be hardened again. This is what I believe God shared with me. That our hearts are not softened by just one act of obedience or one exposure to His love. What we think is softening at that point is ust a washing over our hearts of God's love. It takes constant exposure to God's love in order for our hearts to be softened. Recently, most of our country has been going through a drought, including where I live. Our ground around our house has gotten extremely hard from the lack of rain. Last week we had a deluge of rain. But it did not soften up the ground. It will take regular rain fall in order for the dirt to soften up again. This is just like our hearts. We can go to church weekly, hear the word, and go home and still not be changed. We need to frequently be exposing our hearts to God's love and His word in order for our hard hearts to be and stay softened. So, I challenge you and myself to frequently get into God's presence. Experience His tangible love regularly. Let it soften your heart and keep it pliable. You'll be glad you did Be blessed!