Beyond our Grasp

A thought came to my mind about hardness of heart, so I Googled the words to see how many scripture passages use this phrase. To my surprise, the search returned a huge amount of "hell and damnation" texts, sermons and websites. It actually proved just how hard hearted we "faith filled" people can be.

And that's the point. Faith can work against us as much as it can work for us. For part of hardness of heart comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to believe. And if our "faith" becomes a microscope to judge, I think we are mistaken.

We each suffer from hardness of heart to some degree. It's how we take responsibility for that condition that determines how successful we become in "softening" our hearts. Hardness of heart makes grace pour right over us instead of through us. Even if we hold out our hand, grace will be just beyond our grasp. That is why it is so necessary to recognize my own hardness and address it.

I believe hardness of heart will afflict our human condition as long as we live. I believe the goal is awareness, so that we don't step into the clouds of glory where little is real and much is contrived. I believe we must take stock of our whirl-wind lives, and find where we focus. For if we are attending to the matters of the heart, we are at least aware of our tendencies. And we won't have time to take stock of our neighbor.