Hardness of Heart
God is good.
We know this.
We say it all the time and you've probably heard it thousands of times.
But what does it mean to say that God is good?
First it means that He IS good.
Goodness is not merely an attribute He possess, in the same way you would say a person is good. But rather that He is the embodiment of goodness. And all goodness derives from Him. That's why the apostle says
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
James 1:17 NIV
Another extension of what it means for God to be good, is that He is faithful.
Meaning, He is loyal and steadfast. This means that He keeps His word and He doesn't change. So He will always be who He is.
If that is the case, why are you worried? If He has been good before won't He be good again today?
Our verse today is from Mark 8:17-21
"Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “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? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Here Christ warned His disciples against the yeast of the Pharisees , but they thought he was talking about bread. So he rebuked them for their inability to recognize that that wasn't going to be an issue.
He had multiplied loaves to feed thousands before, why did they think he would be unable to feed twelve?
We are guilty of the same thing sometimes too. In spite of the fact that God has been, and is good to us, we still don’t trust Him.
According to Jesus, that's hardness of heart. And it is wrong. God expects us to remember His goodness to us in the past, when we go through hard times in the future.
So, our hack for this week: Don't harden your heart. Trust Him. He has been good before, and He is still good. He hasn't changed.
#lifehacksfromJesus
