Heart Of Stone Or Heart of Flesh?

 

THE MATTER OF THE HEART.

First, we’ll state the obvious: this booklet is not about the heart as a vital organ, a muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Neither is this booklet concerned with romantic, philosophical, or literary definitions.

Instead, we’ll focus on what the Bible has to say about the heart.

The Bible mentions the heart almost 1,000 times.
In essence, this is what the Bible says:

The Heart Is That Spiritual Part Of Us Where Our Emotions And Desires Dwell.

Before we look at the human heart, we’ll mention that, since God has emotions and desires, He, too, can be said to have a “heart.” We have a heart because God does.

David was a man who possessed a Godly Heart: And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after My Heart, who will do all My Will.' (Acts 13:22 ESV). And God blesses His people with leaders who know and follow His heart (And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in My Heart and in My Mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before My Anointed forever. (1 Samuel 2:35 ESV); "'And I will give you shepherds after My Own Heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
(Jeremiah 3:15 ESV).

THE HUMAN HEART.

The human heart, in its natural condition, is evil, treacherous and deceitful.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)

In other words, the Fall has affected us at the deepest level;
Our mind, emotions and desires have been tainted by sin
—and we are blind to just how pervasive the problem is.

We may not understand our own hearts, but God does. He “knows the secrets of the heart” no matter what bad deeds or regretful actions we try to hide; would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart. (Psalms 44:21 ESV)

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25 ESV). Based on His knowledge of the heart, God can judge righteously: "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." (Jeremiah 17:10 ESV)

Jesus pointed out the fallen condition of our hearts “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:21-23 ESV)

Our biggest problem is not external but internal; all of us have a heart problem.

In order for a person to be saved, then, the heart must be changed. This only happens by the power of God in response to faith. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:10 ESV).

In His grace, God can create a new heart within us (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26).
He promises to: to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 ESV).

TESTING OUR HEARTS.

God’s work of creating a new heart within us involves testing our hea rts;
(Psalm 17:3; Deuteronomy 8:2) and filling our hearts with new ideas, new wisdom, and new desires (Nehemiah 7:5; 1 Kings 10:24; 2 Corinthians 8:16).

The Heart Is The Core Of Our Being!

The Bible sets high importance on keeping our hearts pure: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23 ESV)

The Bible speaks often of the heart.
The word heart can mean different things depending upon the context.
Most often, the heart refers to the soul of a human being that controls the will and emotions. The heart is the “inner man” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The prophet Ezekiel makes several references to a “new heart” (Ezekiel 18:31; Ezekiel 36:26).

An oft-quoted verse is Ezekiel 11:19 where God says;
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh
(Ezekiel 11:19 ESV)

So what does this mean?

In Ezekiel 11, God is addressing His people, the Israelites, promising to one day restore them to the land and to a right relationship with Himself. God promises to gather the Hebrews from the nations where they had been scattered (Ezekiel 11:17) and give them a new, undivided heart (See above). The result of their receiving a new heart will be obedience to God’s commands: that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:20 ESV)

Someone Whom God Has Given A New Heart Behaves Differently.

The human heart was created to mirror God’s own heart
(So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 ESV)).

We were designed to love Him, love righteousness, and walk in harmony with God and others He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8 ESV).

FREE WILL.

But part of God’s design of the human heart is free will.
That free will carries with it the opportunity to abuse it, as did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" (Genesis 3:11 ESV)). God desires that we choose to love and serve Him. When we stubbornly refuse to follow God, our hearts, which were designed to communicate with God, are hardened.

God compares rebellious hearts to stone (Zechariah 7:12). A heart of stone finds it impossible to repent, to love God, or to please Him (Romans 8:8). The hearts of sinful humanity are so hardened that we cannot even seek God on our own (Romans 3:11), and that’s why Jesus said no one can come to Him unless the Father first draws him (John 6:44). We desperately need new hearts, for we are unable on our own to soften our hard hearts.

A change of heart toward God requires a supernatural transformation.

Jesus called it being “born again” Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3 ESV).

When we are born again, God performs a heart transplant, as it were.

He gives us a new heart. The power of the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from sin-focused to God-focused. We do not become perfect (1 John 1:8); we still have our sinful flesh and the freedom to choose whether or not to obey it. However, when Jesus died for us on the cross, He broke the power of sin that controls us (Romans 6:10).

Receiving Him as our Saviour gives us access to God and His power—a power to transform our hearts from sin-hardened to Christ-softened. When we were separated from God with hardened hearts, we found it impossible to please Him. We tended toward selfishness, rebellion, and sin. With new hearts we are declared righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to please God that was foreign to us in our hardened state. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God’s desire for every human being is that we become like His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). We can become like Jesus only when we allow God to rid us of our old, hardened hearts and give us new hearts.

GOD KNOWS YOUR HEART.

When Jesus said, “God knows your heart” in Luke 16:15;
He was speaking to the Pharisees—men who lived double lives.
Outwardly, they sought public approval.
They made a point of following all the religious rules and worked hard to impress people so that they would appear to be godly and wise.
But God knew their hearts.
He saw through their phony, pious displays to what was on the inside.

In Luke these Pharisees are called: “lovers of money” (Luke 16:14), and Jesus said to them, And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15 ESV).

Jesus had just finished teaching about wealth and possessions (Luke 16:1–13). Through a parable, He showed that genuine kingdom followers obey God and His Word rather than pay homage to those things the world values like money and status. He closed with this piercing caution to people who attempt to live dual lives: No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
(Luke 16:13 ESV)

God knew that, in the heart of the Pharisees, they served money. They were only generous with their money on public occasions when others could see them giving. Despite their strict religious fervour, they cultivated godless values just like the unbelieving worldly crowd. They even claimed that their wealth was God’s reward for their righteous living (Luke 18:9–11). But Jesus harshly criticized their outward displays of piety: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
(Matthew 6:1-4 ESV) (see also Matthew 23:5).

APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING

God called out these religious leaders for their greed, self-indulgence, and hypocrisy: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:25-27 ESV)

The Pharisees proved that appearances can be deceiving. Their actions were inconsistent with who they really were in their hearts. In the Bible, “the heart” refers to a person’s inner moral and spiritual life.

Jesus’ challenge to these hypocritical leaders is the same for His followers today. We must be careful not to simply honour the Lord with our lips while we live like the world because our hearts are far from Him ("'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; (Matthew 15:8 ESV); And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
(Isaiah 29:13 ESV)).

We need to focus on cleaning up the inside of our spiritual houses, dealing with our sinful attitudes and misguided motives. If the inner person is righteous, The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 ESV)

The inner treasure of righteousness will flow out to produce external holiness as well. Our moral and spiritual character will automatically be revealed on the outside.

God knows your heart is a concept seen throughout the Bible. The prophet Jeremiah declared that the Lord: O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. (Jeremiah 20:12 ESV). Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. (Proverbs 21:2 ESV). When it came time for Samuel to anoint a new king, God looked past outward appearances to the heart to make His choice: But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
(1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)

A HEART OF STONE.

The case of the Hardened Heart.
Jesus answers this question for us: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:19 ESV)

And then: And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20-23 ESV)

In these passages, Jesus reveals the very springboard of our wants: our fleshly desires come from our innermost being. Sin does not just come about as a result of outside forces. It is borne from those hidden little niches residing in our thoughts and intentions, from the secret desires that only the mind and heart can envision.

The bottom line is that, in our fallen state, the desires of our hearts do not come from God. Jeremiah further confirms the nature of man’s heart: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)

A long held false view held by many non believers is that: “All humans are basically good and decent and that it is the circumstances of life such as poverty or poor nurturing that turn us into murderers and thieves.” But the Bible teaches that all men suffer from a common frailty—sin. The apostle Paul calls it our sin nature. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:18-20 ESV)

Our Evil Hearts Lead Us To Sin.

Furthermore, the heart is so corrupt and deceitful that our motives are unclear even to ourselves.

As sinful creatures we devise and create evil things in the arrogance and self-sufficiency of our hearts (Proverbs 16:30; Psalm 35:20; Micah 2:1; Romans 1:30).

The truth is that only God can examine our deepest motives and inward desires and only by His power can we ever hope to untangle the uncertainty and depravity that is bound up within our hearts.

He alone searches all and knows us intimately (Hebrews 4:11-13).

GOD PROVIDES GRACE AND STRENGTH.

Fortunately, God does not abandon us in our struggles.

He won’t leave us with hurtful desires and sinful tendencies.
Instead, He provides us the grace and strength, we need to resist and overcome sin when it crouches at the door of our hearts.

The psalmist says, Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
(Psalms 37:4-6 ESV)

Here we see that God can literally plant His own desires into the heart of man, the heart that, without Him, is desperately wicked and deceitful. He replaces the evil with good and sets our hearts on the path toward Him, removing our own desires and replacing them with His. This only happens when we come to Him in repentance and accept the gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. At that point, He removes our hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh.

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

(Ezekiel 11:19 ESV)

He accomplishes this by the supernatural implanting of His Holy Spirit into our hearts. Then our desires become His desires, our wills seek to do His will, and our rebellion turns to joyous obedience.

A HEART OF FLESH.

The Heart Of Flesh Agonizes Over Sin, While The Heart Of Stone Is Oblivious.

An example of this is:
‘People with a heart of stone drive, by just cutting in and out of other cars while driving, which in turn causes unnecessary anxiety, and physical effort on behalf of their victims, who have to apply brakes or make unnecessary gear changes.’

‘The fleshly hearted people drive responsibly, taking into consideration the other drivers needs, as well as their own. They agonize with the drivers who have hearts of stone, because these curtsies are seldom reciprocated. They see the 'god-awful' ways people behave on the road, making selfish decisions, etc. and 'sigh and cry' over it.’

It all boils down to freedom of choice, sin would never have been possible to begin with if God had not allowed that very freedom;

The freedom of choice, being able to choose between right and wrong, good or evil.
Justice and Righteousness is a choice we have to make

The more we opt for love, that is to love Jesus, the more just or righteous we become. The more compassionate we will be towards those around, and our hearts of stone will melt and become hearts of flesh. This is God’s goal for us. He wants so much more for us, yet it is up to us.

WE HAVE THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE;
THE FREEDOM TO RESPOND TO HIS WORD, AND WILL.

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our happiness.

A HEART OF GOD.

A Heart created by Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Joel bids us to: rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:13 ESV)

David implores God to:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalms 51:10 ESV)

Jesus teaches, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(Matthew 5:8 ESV)

The heart refers to the central part of a person. The heart is the nature of a person, and to know the heart of someone is to know that person’s innermost character, feelings, or inclinations (see Proverbs 4:23 and Proverbs 16:1).

The heart of God is the essence of Who He is, What He desires, His will,
and His purposes. By reading the Bible, knowing Jesus, and spending time in prayer, a person can know the heart of God.

The Word of God reveals the heart of God. To know the heart of God, a person must read His Word, for that is God’s revelation of Himself and His message to all. People read autobiographies about celebrities to get an idea of who they “really are.” Historians read journals and letters from people in history to understand what their life was like and what influenced and motivated them. In a more profound way, the Lord has given us His Word so that we can know Him. By reading the Bible, a person can know the heart of God because Scripture was divinely breathed out by Him

(2 Timothy 3:16). From Genesis to Revelation, the entire Bible speaks of God and reveals who He is and what He is like. Reading the Bible merely to gain facts about God will not bring a person any closer to the heart of God (John 5:39). Instead, reading Scripture should cause a person to worship and love Him.

Studying Jesus reveals the heart of God. Anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9). No one can truly know the heart of God without knowing and trusting in Jesus for salvation. Jesus Christ revealed the Father, for “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15, ESV).

JESUS HEART IS THE FATHER’S HEART.

Since Jesus and the Father are one, Christ visually represents the heart of God, the essence of who He is (John 10:30). Jesus dying for the sins of the world and being resurrected to bring life to those who believe in Him vividly presents the love, judgement, and mercy of God (John 3:16). In Christ we see God as the Saviour of mankind who desires all to come to know Him and experience the salvation He offers (2 Peter 3:19).

Prayer reveals the heart of God. Spending time with the Lord in prayer assists in knowing His heart. Just as a child must spend time with his father to know him personally, so we also must spend time with God in prayer to know Him more deeply. The first part of James 4:8 says, Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Spending time alone with God in prayer will encourage a deeper relationship and create a greater intimacy between us and God, in which our desires will become more aligned with His.

Seeking to know the heart of God is a serious endeavour, as knowing Him will change a person’s entire life. The more a person learns and knows about the Lord, the more he or she will long for Him and declare with the psalmist, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. (Psalms 42:1 ESV)

DECEITFULLY WICKED HEARTS.

Is the Christian’s heart deceitfully wicked?

You’ve heard that “deceitfully wicked” phrase from the Old Testament, but is such an indictment applicable to the regenerated Christian heart? The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)

Let us walk quickly through the flow of thought from Jeremiah 17:1–9. looking at the whole council of God, after which everybody should be able to see how verse 9 is functioning.

Blessing and a Curse

Jeremiah begins with an indictment of Judah and a warning of destruction. It says, "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, (Jeremiah 17:1-2 ESV). Those are other gods. Idolatry is the issue here. on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory.
(Jeremiah 17:3 ESV). So, He’s going to bring judgement on them for the sin of their heart and the idolatry of their worship.

And then He says what’s beneath that. Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
(Jeremiah 17:5-6 ESV)

That’s The Root Problem Of The Idolatry And The Sin.
The Root Problem Is That They Are Trusting In Man, Not In God.

And then he describes what alternatively ought to be: the opposite of this and the benefits that would come if it were the case. “Blessed is the man” — not cursed as is the man who trusts in man — "who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV)

EVERY HEART AN IDOL FACTORY.

Now, that leaves us with this question: If trusting in self results in such misery
(no good shall come) and trusting in God results in such fruitfulness (you’re going to prosper), why in the world is a whole nation acting so suicidally in self-trust and sin and idolatry? And the answer is verse 9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” So, the human heart is diseased with sin and in the sway of deceit. And that’s why people act suicidally in preferring self-trust over God-trust.

So, the overall point of the passage seems to be that the root of sin and idolatry is a failure to trust in God rather than self. And the root of that failure is a deceitful and depraved heart. So, I think Jeremiah — indeed, I think all the biblical writers — would say that’s the root problem ever since the fall of man into sin and corruption. All human beings — no exceptions — are born with this kind of fallen, diseased, deceived, self-exalting, God-opposing heart.

What Happens In The New Birth?

So, the question is this: When a person experiences the new birth — becomes a Christian — what happens to that diseased, deceived, self-exalting, God-opposing heart? Here are some verses that describe what happens:

Ezekiel 36:26 describes the new covenant like this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Romans 6:17: “Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.”

Acts 15:9: God “made no distinction between [Jew] and [Gentile], having cleansed their hearts by faith.”

John 7:38 may be the most amazing of all: Jesus says, Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" Oh, amazing. Oh, I want to be like that, right? I just want to have a kind of new heart that doesn’t just enjoy water — it flows to other people. John 7:39: “Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.”

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5 ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

DIVINE DNA INFUSED.

So, in conclusion we could say that Jeremiah 17:9 (the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick) is true of the human heart — all of them.

But where God is applying the blood-bought purchase of the new covenant, there is a new creation. Sins are forgiven. Holy Spirit is poured in. New nature is brought into being. That newness consists in the presence of the heart-influencing Holy Spirit and in the new nature. You might call it the divine-like DNA that is more and more being conformed to Christ.

A good verse to end on would be 2 Corinthians 3:18: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being” — this old, horrible, self-exalting, God-opposing heart of mine is being — “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

A HARDENED HEART.

To better understand the causes and solutions for a hardened heart, it’s important to understand the broad biblical meaning of the word “heart.” The Bible considers the heart to be the hub of human personality, producing the things we would ordinarily ascribe to the “mind.”

For example, Scripture informs us that grief (John 14:1); desires (Matthew 5:28); joy (Ephesians 5:19); understanding (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15); thoughts and reasoning (Genesis 6:5; Hebrews 4:12; Mark 2:8); and, most importantly, faith and belief (Hebrews 3:12; Romans 10:10; Mark 11:23) are all products of the heart. Also, Jesus tells us that the heart is a repository for good and evil and that what comes out of our mouth – good or bad – begins in the heart (Luke 6:43–45).

Considering this, it’s easy to see how a hardened heart can dull a person’s ability to perceive and understand. Anyone’s heart can harden, even faithful Christians’.

In fact, in Mark 8:17–19 we see Jesus’ own disciples suffering from this malady.
The disciples were concerned with their meagre bread supply, and it was clear that each of them had forgotten how Jesus had just fed thousands with only a few loaves.

Questioning them as to the hardness of their hearts, Christ spells out for us the characteristics of this spiritual heart condition as an inability to see, understand, hear, and remember. Regarding this last criterion, too often we forget how God has blessed us and what He has done for us. Similar to the disciples in this instance or the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, when a new calamity arises in our lives, our hearts often fill with fear and concern. Sadly, this simply reveals to God the little faith we have in His promise to take care of us;
(Matthew 6:32–33; Philippians 4:19).

HE WILL NEVER LEAVE NEITHER FORSAKE US.

We need to remember not only the many times God has graciously provided for us in our time of need, but also what He has told us: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5).

Sin causes hearts to grow hard, especially continual and unrepentant sin.
Now we know that “if we confess our sins, [Jesus] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). However, if we don’t confess our sins, they have a cumulative and desensitizing effect on the conscience, making it difficult to even distinguish right from wrong. And this sinful and hardened heart is tantamount to the “seared conscience” Paul speaks of in 1Timothy 4:1–2. Scripture makes it clear that if we relentlessly continue to engage in sin, there will come a time when God will give us over to our “debased mind” and let us have it our way. The apostle Paul writes about God’s wrath of abandonment in his letter to the Romans where we see that godless and wicked “men who suppress the truth” are eventually given over to the sinful desires of their hardened hearts (Romans 1:18–24).

Pride Will Also Cause Our Hearts To Harden.

The “pride of your heart has deceived you . . . you who say to yourself, ‘who can bring me down to the ground’ . . . I will bring you down declares the LORD”
(Obadiah 3). Also, the root of Pharaoh’s hard-heartedness was his pride and arrogance. Even in the face of tremendous proofs and witnessing God’s powerful hand at work, Pharaoh’s hardened heart caused him to deny the sovereignty of the one, true God. And when King Nebuchadnezzar’s “heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory . . . until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone He wishes” (Daniel 5:20–21). Accordingly, when we’re inclined to do it our way, thinking we can “go it on our own,” it would be wise to recall what King Solomon taught us in Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

ANTIDOTE FOR PRIDE.

So, what then is the antidote for a heart condition such as this?

First and foremost, we have to recognize the effect that this spiritual disease has on us. And God will help us to see our heart’s condition when we ask Him: “Search me O God, and know my heart…see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24). God can heal any heart once we recognize our disobedience and repent of our sins. But true repentance is more than simply a resolute feeling of steadfast determination.

REPENTANCE MANIFESTS ITSELF IN A CHANGED LIFE.

After repenting of our sins, hard hearts begin to be cured when we study God’s Word. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart. . . . I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9–11). The Bible is our manual for living as it is:
“God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). If we are to live life to the fullest as God intended, we need to study and obey God’s written Word, which not only keeps a heart soft and pure but allows us to be “blessed” in whatever we do (Joshua 1:8; James 1:25).

Hearts can also become hardened when we suffer setbacks and disappointments in life. No one is immune to trials here on earth. Yet, just as steel is forged by a blacksmith’s hammer, so, too, can our faith be strengthened by the trials we encounter in the valleys of life. As Paul encouraged the Romans: “But we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:3–5).

HEART AND MIND LINKED.

The phrase “reprobate mind” is found in Romans 1:28 in reference to those whom God has rejected as godless and wicked. They “suppress the truth by their wickedness,” and it is upon these people that the wrath of God rests (Romans 1:18). The Greek word translated “reprobate” in the New Testament is adokimos, which means literally “unapproved, that is, rejected; by implication, worthless (literally or morally).”

Paul describes two men named Jannes and Jambres as those who “resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith" (2 Timothy 3:8). Here the reprobation is regarding the resistance to the truth because of corrupt minds. In Titus, Paul also refers to those whose works are reprobate: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16). Therefore, the reprobate mind is one that is corrupt and worthless.

As we can see in the verses above, people who are classified as having a reprobate mind have some knowledge of God and perhaps know of His commandments. However, they live impure lives and have very little desire to please God. Those who have reprobate minds live corrupt and selfish lives. Sin is justified and acceptable to them. The reprobates are those whom God has rejected and has left to their own devices.

Can A Christian Have A Reprobate Mind?

Someone who has sincerely accepted Jesus Christ by faith will not have this mindset because the old person with a reprobate mind has been recreated into a new creation: “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christians are basically “new” people. We live differently and speak differently.
Our world is centred on our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and how we can serve Him. Also, if we are truly in the faith, we will have the Holy Spirit to help us live a God-honoring life (John 14:26). Those with reprobate minds do not have the Spirit and live only for themselves.

CIRCUMCISED HEART.

The idea of “circumcision of the heart” is found in Romans 2:29.

It refers to having a pure heart, separated unto God. Paul writes, “A Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” These words conclude a sometimes confusing passage of Scripture regarding circumcision and the Christian. Verses 25-29 provide context:

“For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

Paul is discussing the role of the Old Testament Law as it relates to Christianity. He argues that Jewish circumcision is only an outward sign of being set apart to God. However, if the heart is sinful, then physical circumcision is of no avail. A circumcised body and a sinful heart are at odds with each other. Rather than focus on external rites, Paul focuses on the condition of the heart. Using circumcision as a metaphor, he says that only the Holy Spirit can purify a heart and set us apart to God. Ultimately, circumcision cannot make a person right with God; the Law is not enough. A person’s heart must change. Paul calls this change “circumcision of the heart.”

This concept was not original with the apostle Paul. As a Jew trained in the Law of Moses, he was certainly aware of this discussion from Deuteronomy 30. There, the Lord used the same metaphor to communicate His desire for a holy people: “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Physical circumcision was a sign of Israel’s covenant with God; circumcision of the heart, therefore, would indicate Israel’s being set apart to love God fully, inside and out.

TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD, REPRESS PRIDE.

John the Baptist warned the Pharisees against taking pride in their physical heritage and boasting in their circumcision: “Do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).

True “children of Abraham” are those who follow Abraham’s example of believing God (Genesis 15:6). Physical circumcision does not make one a child of God; faith does. Believers in Jesus Christ can truly say they are children of “Father Abraham.” “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

God has always wanted more from His people than just external conformity to a set of rules. He has always wanted them to possess a heart to love, know, and follow Him. That’s why God is not concerned with a circumcision of the flesh. Even in the Old Testament, God’s priority was a spiritual circumcision of the heart: “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done” (Jeremiah 4:4).

Both Testaments focus on the need for repentance and inward change in order to be right with God. In Jesus, the Law has been fulfilled (Matthew 5:17).

Through Him, a person can be made right with God and receive eternal life
(John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9).

As Paul said:

True Circumcision Is A Matter Of The Heart, Performed By The Spirit Of God.

A HEART OF STONE KILLS.

By now, the mind-body connection is a familiar idea. Most people are aware, for example, that stress can produce physical symptoms like an upset stomach, or that depression often physically hurts. But a growing body of research suggests that negative emotions and thoughts may also have links to other serious health problems, like heart disease.

ANGER, FEAR, AND FRUSTRATION

“Many negative emotions such as anger, fear, and frustration become problematic when those emotions turn into a more permanent disposition or a habitual outlook on the world,” explains Emiliana Simon-Thomas, PhD, science director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

CYNICISM

Take cynicism, for example: A 2014 study published in the journal Neurology linked high levels of cynicism later in life, i.e. a general distrust of people (and their motives), to a greater risk of dementia compared to those who were more trusting, even after accounting for other risk factors like age, sex, certain heart health markers, smoking status, and more.

HOSTILITY

Another bad attitude that's been linked to poor health outcomes: hostility. According to a 2014 study published in the journal Stroke, people who scored higher on measures of unfriendliness, as well as those with chronic stress and depressive symptoms, had a higher risk of stroke than the friendlier, kinder participants.

DEPRESSION

Finally, there's depression, which is a serious diagnosis that can have repercussions far beyond feeling sad or losing your appetite. It's been connected with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack, and a greater chance of disability later in life. (This is another reason why it's so important to seek help for depression.)

Our thoughts and emotions have widespread effects on bodily processes like metabolism, hormone release, and immune function, Simon-Thomas says. One theory is that when you're stressed or depressed, cortisol levels increase, making your immune system less able to control inflammation, which could lead to disease over time.

POORLY-MANAGED NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ARE NOT GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

Negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can create chronic stress, which upsets the body's hormone balance, depletes the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damages the immune system. Chronic stress can actually decrease our lifespan. (Science has now identified that stress shortens our telomeres, the “end caps” of our DNA strands, which causes us to age more quickly.)

Poorly managed or repressed anger (hostility) is also related to a slew of health conditions, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and infection.