Lessons of a Soft Heart

If, as we’ve discussed, the soil of the soft heart enables the seed of God’s Word to germinate, take root and grow, it is vital that we monitor the state of our hearts.  Regularly taking stock of the heart’s condition will help keep us attentive to Jesus’ instruction, sensitive to the Spirit’s direction and responsive to the Kingdom truths we hear.  This attention to the heart facilitates our ability to identify with the heart of God as we relate to the world around us.

This appears to be what Jesus expects of us as well.  After his resurrection, in conversation with the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, Jesus scolded them for not being able to apply the Scriptural truths (what Jesus had taught them) with the circumstances of recent events.  But he didn’t call them out for being insincere or apathetic.  He didn’t chastise them for not being able to apply chapter and verse to the recent events.  He simply said they were “slow of heart to believe” (Lk 24.25).   The heart usually recognises truth before the head.  A heart enriched with soft soil, that is cleared of weeds and stones, will be quicker to respond to the truths of God when we come across them.  This is what Jesus had expected of these two disciples.

It is with the heart that we believe, so we must give careful consideration to what we hear.

The rest of his conversation with them gives further insight into this dynamic and highlights the importance of recognising what is going on within our hearts.  After Jesus mysteriously disappeared from their table, the two disciples compared their experience and recognised their hearts had been burning while Jesus spoke with them (Lk 24.32).

It is with the heart that we believe, so we must give careful consideration to how we listen.   

This story also illustrates two more components in the process of belief.  As we give attention to what is going on within our hearts our ‘eyes’ are opened to see, or perceive, the truths being sensed by our hearts (Lk 24.31).  But, as we discussed previously (see post), merely ‘seeing’ the truths does not imply an immediate or complete understanding of these truths.  We need for our minds to catch up with our hearts.  We need our minds to be opened in order to grow into deeper understanding (Lk 24.45).

These are the ideas to which we’ll now turn our attention.