Where are you?

I want to speak to the little boy or little girl inside each of us. I want to peel back the thick, cumbersome layers of adulthood that we pile on to mask our thoughts, feelings and emotions. I want to speak to the child in you – the innocent child that Jesus refers to when He says, in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me.” The little child who is afraid of the dark, afraid of thunderstorms, hates it when his parents fight, and does not understand why people don’t want to be her friend. Inside all of us, beneath the life-worn exterior of machismo and pride that child still lives within us. And, Jesus still speaks to that child: "Come."

In helping us understand God and the heavens, well-meaning adults pointed to the blue skies and white clouds and said, heaven is there and God lives in heaven. Even the Bible, in Isaiah 40:22, says God stretches out the heavens. We grew up with this idea that God is "up there" somewhere - somewhere far away. People stand in worship, face and arms lifted high, and for some they seem to be reaching upward to . . . somewhere. And, if we dig a hole deep enough, we'll come to a place called hell and the devil lives "down there." Good is up; bad is down. You've probably seen the old cartoons that reinforce this with an elevator. God is up there - far away - looking down on our lives and waiting on a few of us to join Him in the clouds when we die.

As a 12-year-old boy, I was hurting in 1971. I had a good life, lots of baseball, big farm to play on, parents who loved me, grandparents living just next door and they loved me, and all was well. When my grandmother died in 1971, as death often does to survivors, life got reshuffled. Nothing was the same. And, I was hurting. I've told the story many times: To ease the hurting, I used $10 of my birthday money to purchase a Bible, had my name stamped on it, and began reading it. Not long after, our pastor, Roger Williams, came to our Sunday evening Bible Study. He asked each of us (students) to be prepared to stand and read a favorite Bible verse in that evening's worship service. 

I didn't have a verse. I wanted to shout out, "My life is upside down right now. God is far away in those clouds up there. I don't even want to be here tonight. Leave me alone!"

As I sat in worship, between my parents, Roger asked we young people to stand and read our verses. I didn't have a verse. As other children stood and read, I stared at my Bible. It might as well have been a rock - literally. Then, I opened it and the words of Joshua 1:9 jumped off that page at me, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." It was like a wave of peace flooded through me and over me. I stood and read that verse. Then, I sat down, buried my head in my mama's shoulder, and began to cry. God was not far away; God was right there. And, I knew it. 

As a follower of Jesus, God had spoke that verse into my broken heart, reminding me that He is not an absentee God, far away in story-book clouds. For those who love Him through Jesus, broken under the strain of life, He reaches out through the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way, and says, “Anchor your life in me. I will always be with you. Always. I will be with you wherever life takes you. Even in the darkest, loneliest, most confusing places – I am there.”

Most of us know that God is right here with us. But, that hopeful message slips away. We forget it. We ignore it. We wander away. I have lived a life full of valleys, some very deep, and in each of them, I still look toward the heavens and think, “Where is God in all this? Why does He seem so far away from me.” I completely forget Joshua 1:9 and all the other reminders in Scripture: God is right here. And, while I am saying, “Where are you, God?” God is saying, Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Come to me. 

While I am busy asking, "Where are you, God?" God is responding with, "Scott, I am here. Where are you? Come to me. I will give you rest." God is waiting on me and you to come to Him.

What’s wrong with me – what’s wrong with you – what’s wrong with us – that we can’t hold onto that truth? What’s wrong with our faith that we are tossed around like a rag doll in the wind? What's wrong?

God isn't fun.
I am reminded of the family that learns their child will suffer with a disease for his entire life. The child will never know the same life experienced by the neighborhood children. And, how does the family respond? Do they run to God? No, they post Facebook photographs, showing drunken parties. They say, without saying, "God, I just want to be normal and have fun. You aren't fun, God. I don't want to deal with anything 'heavy' like religion. I just want to escape the pain." And, their hearts grow cold toward the only one who can bring them peace.

God isn't convenient

I am reminded of the man who was invited to join other men on a mission trip to North Dakota. He stared back across the table and said, "Well, that ain't happening. Hell will freeze over before I do that." He failed to realize that this wasn't a friend who was inviting him to be on mission - it was Holy God extending that invitation through another believer. Each and every day, God is inviting us to join Him in a work to improve the lives of other people. But, we say, "God, you are so inconvenient. I have plans. I have goals. I have vacation time reserved for me. My children need me at every single ballgame for the rest of their lives. My life can't function without ME. Don't get in my way, God. You are an inconvenience." And, their hearts grow cold toward the only one who can bring them joy.

God isn't forgiving

I am reminded of the woman whose past came rushing up to meet her one day. Poor mistakes as a young woman were being lived out through her children. She said, "God, I know you are punishing me. I am not worthy to walk with you. I want to get things 'right' with you, but I am so unworthy. My chance is over." Feeling blighted, scarred and beyond repair, she had come to a place where she felt God no longer cared for her. And, her heart grew cold toward the only one who could bring her hope.

These are just three examples. I could write 100 more and many would apply directly to me. We turn and run from God, and then we ask, "Where is God?" And, God asks, "Scott, where are you? Where have you gone?"

For Jesus followers, God is right here - beside you, over you, under you, inside you - all the time. And He is constantly speaking, constantly calling you to serve, constantly calling you toward change, constantly reminding you that Jesus came to save and not condemn (John 3:17). But, our hearts have been hardened by the valleys; our hearts have grown cold toward love, peace, joy and hope. We can't hear God. We have listened to bank accounts, the counsel of unbelievers, family calendars, and the false belief that we are responsible for the happiness of our children. We wander, lost, hurting, confused . . . like little children afraid of the dark, but paralyzed to get out of the bed and turn on the light.

And, some of you can't hear from God because you don't know His son as your Savior. Only through Jesus, can you hear God's call to peace, love and hope. Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Have you made that commitment? Have you said, “I can’t do it anymore all by myself; I’m tired of it. I need Jesus.” If so, have you told others? Because you can’t keep the light under a bushel – it’s impossible. Have you been baptized in front of family and friends – maybe not in a big church service, but have you made that public statement of faith? Do people know that you know Jesus? Only you can answer that, but I promise you that you will never, never know the peace that comes through God until you acknowledge Jesus, surrender to Him, confess Him to others publicly, and allow your heart to be massaged by Jesus' comforting words: "But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again." (John 4:14). 

Where is God? Where is God in the restlessness of our lives? 

Where are you? God is here. Where are you?

Make a decision today. Make a decision to surrender your life completely to Jesus, and if you have already done so, make the decision to step from life’s confusion and uncertainty, and hear from God: Do not be afraid, I am here. I am sovereign. I am God.

Tender heartedness

Richard and I were in Walmart recently, looking for an electric ice cream freezer. We were browsing through the small appliances when speeding out of an aisle came a little boy – maybe 4 – on a tricycle. He stopped, gave us a grin, and then sped off. We chuckled at the unexpected scene, and kept shopping. You just don't expect to get run down by a tricycle in Walmart.

In a few minutes, the little boy came slowly driving by, this time a more concerned look on his face. He was looking around, and Richard said, “I don’t think he can find his parents.”

Unable to find the ice cream freezer, I said, “Well, let’s go try Target.” Richard said, “I’m not leaving here until I make sure that little boy has found his parents.” And, Richard began to follow the boy on the tricycle, keeping his distance but keeping an eye on him.

About 10 minutes later, my 6-5 son joined me at the front of the store, “His mama found him in the shoes. I've seen that look in her eye. He's probably going to get a spanking.”

I propose to you that the Holy Spirit nudged Richard to care for the little boy, and that Richard was obedient to slow his life down and follow that nudging. And, in doing so, demonstrated a measure of tender-heartedness toward the situation. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:31 . . . “believers are to get rid of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior and instead be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” We show tender-heartedness when we are kind, caring and forgiving of one another. Our hearts are tender to the needs of others. Further, we are tender-hearted when we are wide-eyed to the needs of others, slow our lives down to serve, and then practice kindness, caring and forgiveness.

For believers, tender-heartedness is not an option. In being tender-hearted, we are replicating how Jesus loves us, accepting His kindness, sacrifice, and forgiveness, and paying that forward to others, including strangers. We are following Jesus when we practice tender-heartedness.

But, let's take it step further. Because many, many good people - who don't follow Jesus - do good things for others. Community service organizations and philanthropies have churned out tender-hearted people for years and years. Most people, I believe, practice a measure of tender-heartedness, especially toward family and friends. In fact, any unbeliever could have responded - and may have responded - just as Richard did in Walmart.

At lunchtime on Friday, I met with three other men in our community for a time of prayer. We were from four different churches though that was not planned. One of the men, a runner, shared that every day he runs 2-3 miles. Along this journey, he often sees a neighbor and they wave at one another. Recently, my friend said his neighbor was at the mailbox when he ran by, and they actually spoke. Something in the neighbor’s eyes caused my friend to stop, turn around, and walk back for a handshake and an introduction. The neighbor then began to cry. His marriage was falling apart. My friend said his heart literally broke for his neighbor and ministry followed. “I pray this leads to a conversation about Jesus,” my friend said. “He may know Jesus, but I want to make sure; perhaps He just needs to turn back to Jesus.”

This is what it really means to be tenderhearted as a follower of Jesus. We see beyond the Earthly pain to the spiritual pain. We look for opportunities to build relationship with people toward a goal of talking to some about faith. Tenderheartedness, I propose, for the believer, is about pouring into a person's Earthly pain toward a goal of easing that person's spiritual pain.

In Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus talks about His own heart. It's one of the only times in Scripture when Jesus does this. In this passage, Jesus says that we will approach Him like (tender-hearted) children - unjaded and innocent. He calls Himself simple and gentle (tenderhearted) and in connecting with people that way, some find salvation and its peace through Him.

You and I are called to make disciples - not just to be good people. Being tender-hearted is the way we build relationship toward faith conversations. Many people do good things for others. Our heart breaks for those who struggle, who are lonely, who are hurting, whose marriages are crumbling, whose children are sick, who need a friend, and who need a cold cup of water. I am a tender-hearted person. My radar goes up for those kinds of needs, and I love to respond to people – often very privately.

But, as a believer, I’m not finishing the race if I just ease the Earthly pain. As I pour into a person, I’ve got to be looking downfield with a goal to talk about Jesus – to talk about my faith. Did you know that only about 50 percent of confessing Christians believe they have a responsibility to share their faith with others? That means 50 percent believe it’s someone else’s responsibility. That’s research from the Barna Group - a leader in research among evangelicals. Research from Campus Crusades for Christ suggests that only 2 percent of believers share their faith. This research speaks loudly about the condition of our hearts toward others and toward Jesus. If it's not our responsibility to share faith with others, whose responsibility is it? Do we honestly believe we can follow Jesus on the one hand and never discuss Him on the other? Impossible.

Those who share their faith, those who have a burden to share their faith, are those who are tenderhearted – tenderhearted to the gospel – tenderhearted toward following Jesus. Those who don’t – those who don’t feel the burden – are growing or have grown hard-hearted toward Jesus – even if their actions toward others include random acts of kindness, hospital visits and chicken casseroles.

So, how do we share our faith with others? It's not something I have a lot of experience with, but I am intentionally focusing my life on being more tender-hearted toward the gospel and toward others. Here are some of my thoughts and discoveries:

1. Be confident that you are a confessing follower of Jesus. It’s one thing to be saved; it’s another thing to claim that Jesus is Lord of your life and that you are following Him. Those who follow Jesus will find it impossible to ignore talking about Him. In the way that I love my boys and talk about them from that pool of love, I will likewise find it impossible to love Jesus and not talk about Him.
2. Practice using the name of Jesus. This has worked for me. It was uncomfortable at first because it draws a line in the relationship sand. Using the name of Jesus - as opposed to "the Lord" as if he's a faraway king - forces others to react. Some will be repulsed by the name of Jesus, but I'm learning that the name of Jesus opens unbelievable doors for ministry and my life is blessed because of my response to Him.
3. What do I say about Jesus? What are the right words to say? Do I need to search for words to talk about my Vicki or my boys? No. There are no right and holy words to recite. As you are asked about your faith, you tell your story with Jesus. You tell how your life was before, how you came to be broken by your sin, and what life is like now. Need help with your story? Click here.
4. What if people want to argue? Don’t. I never argue. I don’t have to argue. I can’t save someone from sin. My responsibility is to be tender-hearted, love people, want people to know Jesus, and talk about Him. The Holy Spirit will go to work and some will respond. Some will not respond. I'm not judged by God based on how others respond to Jesus. My calling is to be obedient in talking about Him and reflecting Him in my life.
5. What if people have questions that I can’t answer? That’s cool. You say, 'I don’t know all the answers. I’ll do some research and get back to you.' I use this website to help me with my own questions and to answer the questions of others: www.gotquestions.org. People are more likely to listen if you impress them by working to get answers.
6. What if someone says they want me to pray for them? Do it. Again, there are no "right words." The Holy Spirit will give you the words. They may be awkward, but they will not sound that way to the one needing to hear them. Honestly, I've prayed some of the most bungled-up prayers and when I finished the other person was in tears. So, it wasn't me - it was the Holy Spirit speaking to them. Remember, we are talking about supernatural matters here. You and I are just vessels through which the Spirit communicates.
7. What if someone says ‘What must I do to be saved?’ – If you declare with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead to be your Savior from the worship of self, you will be saved. Romans 10:9. Read the book of Romans. It will change your life and empower you to be bold with others.
8. Pray daily for God to send hurting people into your life. Give them cool water to ease the pain of the Earthly journey, and be prepared to help them drink the eternal water that only comes from Jesus. I promise that once you become tender-hearted to both men and to the sharing of the gospel, your life will be completely different. And, in that alteration comes unbelievable peace and joy.

When good people have hard hearts

People should be able to see a difference between those who follow Jesus and those who don’t. People should be able to clarify between a "good, Christian person" and a person who follows Jesus. 

Many people - most people actually - are good, honest, hard-working people who vote in all the elections, love their family and friends, attend church regular and prepare chicken casseroles when a friend has fallen ill. But, all of that does not make them a follower of Jesus. It is possible and very much a reality that many, many "good Christian people" do not know Jesus as Savior and many who do aren't following Him.

So, as God leads me into this study of hard heartedness, I want to look closely at "good people with hard hearts." Just as a reminder, hard heartedness does not mean mean or wicked. It means hard or cold to building relationships through which Jesus can be shared.

As many of you know, Vicki’s mama is in very poor health. Mrs. Bowen lived here in Lexington until January, when we moved her to Gainesville, GA where she could live with and be cared for by Vicki's sister, Kathy. Mrs. Bowen loved to cook. A big part of her identity was her cooking. But, as her physical and mental health deteriorated she could no longer cook anything. So, Vicki and were left with Mrs. Bowen's expensive mixers, bowls, pots and pans, and boxes of very good kitchen gadgets.

Vicki and I are good people. We love Jesus, we love our family, we are faithful to the church, we vote in all the elections, we pay our taxes, we work hard, and we don't live on credit - we generally pay cash for everything. But, now comes the question: What should we do with Mrs. Bowen's stuff? For that matter, what should we do with all of the stuff that used to be in our two outdoor sheds? In those sheds, we had some pretty high-quality stuff, including top-of-the-line baby furniture that had survived four boys and could survive four more. What should we do with expensive dresses and suits that we no longer wear? 

Some might say, "Let's have yard sale!" That would allow us to turn stuff into profit. But, who does that serve? Ultimately, self wins.

Some might say, "Let's donate it to a non-profit that resells the items very cheaply." That would be easy. And, it would benefit some . . . but it might not benefit those trying to rub two nickels together to produce dinner.

Jesus would say, "Open your eyes to families in your community and give your life away to those who need the stuff, and give it away with no strings attached." And, so that's what Vicki and I are systematically doing. The baby furniture and accessories have made their way to families experiencing crisis pregnancy, and to young and struggling couples. We've given some of Mrs. Bowen's cooking stuff to young people who are just starting out and need to outfit a kitchen.

The hard-hearted would say, "Oh, no! That's too much trouble. How do you know they really deserve it? How do you know they aren't turning around and selling your stuff at the flea market? That welfare bunch should have to pay something - they have to pay their way!" And, there my friends is the real rub of it. That's why it is so difficult to follow Jesus. Because though we believers live good and honest lives, Jesus says that even the ungodly live good lives. Jesus is calling us to live completely and radically different from the ungodly.

Look at Ephesians 4:17-19. In this passage, Paul makes some very strong statements: "Live no longer like the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame. They live for their own pleasure and practice every kind of impurity."

Let me talk to you about traffic. I was in the Chick-fil-a drive through last Monday with what seemed like 500 of my closest friends. It was insane. The Cathy family can make a chicken sandwich, but they can't design buildings and have no concept of traffic flow. I was in Chick-fil-a gridlock hell. An elderly woman had unwittingly parked so that she blocked the drive-through release and was stuck in the drive-through line. She couldn't move. People began blowing their horns and some rolled down their windows and started shouting at her. I sat by the drive-through window, drinking my diet lemonade.

Then, I saw a solution. I got out of the van and approached her. She was white with panic. I told her that I would stop traffic so that she could get out and release the gridlock. All I had to do was stop one car, she pulled out, and everything began working more smoothly. But, as I raised my hand to stop that one car, the driver looked at me in disgust because she didn't understand. Then, she saw what was happening, she smiled, nodded her head in the affirmative and all was well.

Now, here's the thing.

Those who did nothing but blow their horns and yell at the poor lady were hard of heart toward the gospel. I'm sure many of them are really good people 99 percent of the time. A few may know Jesus. But, at that moment, their hearts were hardened to the gospel. They did not value the relationship with the woman as Jesus would have. They valued a chicken sandwich and a hurry-up-to-be-somewhere attitude more than they valued that woman. Their hearts were hard. There's no way they could have been of value to the Kingdom in that moment, and that saddens our Savior.

But, even the nice woman who stopped for me and patiently waited was hard of heart, too. Why? Because even though she stopped when prompted, her heart was hardened not to see the opportunity. I suggest to you that her heart was not as hard as others because she came quickly to tenderness, but she is an example of how easily it is to toggle between good and bad, and how good people can become hard hearted. And in that instance, opportunity for relationship-building is forfeited.

As I was convicted of all this - because I'm guilty, too, for daily moments of hard heartedness - I suddenly found myself in the mindset of allowing anyone and everyone to turn in front of me in traffic. In fact, I spent the rest of the week, stopping for people to turn in front of me in traffic.

The hard of heart would say, "No! It's my turn!"

The hard of heart would say, "I've got somewhere important to be! Out of my way!"

The hard of heart would say, "Scott, I can see helping the old lady at Chick-fil-a, but I can't see letting everyone turn in front of you for an entire week."

Really? What do you think it means when Jesus says in Matthew 16:24:  “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways (deny your self), take up your cross (take up your own burden) and follow me (because I’m going to take care of you.)” 

You see, we really don't believe that. We believe, "\God takes care of those who care for themselves." Well, hmmm, that phrase is not in Proverbs. That phrase is attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who most likely extracted it from Aesop's Fables.

No, you and I are to be unconcerned for self, completely putting all of our lives, hopes, dreams and goals into the hands of God through the Savior who loves us. And, as we do that, we are to be wide-eyed, open-minded and tender hearted to helping every single person on this planet above self and without prejudice. Do they deserve it? None of us deserves the sacrifice on Calvary, and so let's start there when we talk about what people deserve. When you can't love every single person above self, the end result is a heart that hardens to the gospel.

Do well today by others. You will find that as you do, your heart will become tender to the peace, joy, love and hope of our Savior. As we follow Him completely, in word and attitude and deed, He will massage our hearts to tender places and the answers to life’s questions will become crystal clear. Or, the questions just won't matter. And, that’s where we will go next week.

Hard Heartedness

Do these people seem familiar?

• The churchman who, faced with knee-buckling family tragedy, turns completely from faith and lives the rest of his days cursing God, and shunning everything about the church.
• The scolding family member who says, "You are becoming a Jesus freak; you are embarrassing our family." 
• The matriarch who says, "No, let's not pray at our 50th Anniversary dinner; it will make some feel uncomfortable. Let's just leave religion out of it."
• The couple, no longer having babies, that looks beyond young parents in need of free baby furniture to see a few dollars made at a neighborhood yard sale?
• The successful white-collar businessman who looks at a neighborhood and refers to everyone in it as "them," assigning a measure of superiority and societal blame with his words.
• The church volunteer who throws her hands up in disgust and says, "I quit! No one is helping, and everyone is happy to watch me work myself to death."
• The uncle (or aunt - fill in the blank) who knows his nephew doesn't know Jesus and washes his hands of any guilt by saying, "Well, if it's meant to be, God will get his attention."

All of these are but a very few examples of spiritual hard-heartedness.
For all of those examples, above, I can assign a very real person to each of them. I can even assign myself to one or two. I'm not suggesting any of these people are bad, immoral, un-Godly people. Each of them is a good person, and a follower of Jesus. But, each of them, too, experienced a measure of what Jesus calls hard-heartedness to the matters of faith, meaning their spiritual journey detoured. If unchecked, the detour can be costly.

Let's look at Mark 8: 1-21, and let's look at in several parts.
Part One: 8:1-10. Jesus has miraculously fed 4,000 people with a few loaves of bread and fish. And, in fact, there were even leftovers. That's pretty impressive. How could anyone close to the miracle be blinded to the reality of Jesus? After the feeding of the people, Jesus and the disciples got in a boat and crossed to another place.
Part Two: 8:11-13. When the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they confronted Jesus, and demanded that He show them a miracle. He sighed deeply. That's big for me - Jesus just gave a weary sigh. He refused to give them a sign, and he and the disciples got back in the boat to travel again.
Part Three: 8:14-21: Back in the boat, the disciples got hungry, but they had forgotten the leftovers. They had just one loaf of bread. Gee whiz. Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod." The disciples ignored Jesus and began to argue with each other, blaming one another for forgetting the leftovers. Jesus was exasperated. They had seen but quickly forgotten that He had miraculously just fed 4,000 people from a few loaves. One loaf of bread to feed those in the boat was nothing. And, Jesus says, "Are your hearts too hard to take it in?"

Oh, my. Just like the disciples, we suffer from hard hearts. We suffer from Teflon hearts. We see and know and follow Jesus, but in the matter of seconds, minutes and in our everyday attitudes - we act no different than the Pharisees who hated Jesus. Drawing from yeast as a microorganism that enriches bread, Jesus warns us to not to have the yeast of the Pharisees growing within us.
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What is hardness of the heart? Well, at its core – it is sin because it puts the will of self ahead of the will of God. The will of God is always about loving Him and loving others ahead of self. With hard heartedness, there is an attitude of stubbornness, disobedience and self-will. When a child stands up against parental authority, we speak of the child as hard-hearted – a heart that is hardened to parental love. In our spiritual lives, hardness of the heart is choosing self and things of the Earth over loving and serving God, and following Jesus. What it makes it worse is that it is willful disobedience. We can’t excuse it away.

What are some of the effects and manifestations of a hard heart? There will be a spirit of defensiveness – a rejection of conviction of sin. Two believers were arguing over a photograph one had posted on Facebook. They asked me if I approved of the photograph, showing one believer - a leader in his church - at a roulette wheel on a cruise ship. I told them that the photograph did not personally offend me, but I could make a case for it tarnishing the witness of the believer. The person in the photograph became indignant, lashed out, and essentially told me to "mind my own business." Hard-heartedness always defends, justifies and rationalizes sin. Hard heartedness manifests itself, too, in prejudice, blunted morality, a limp gospel (that hell does not exist and God will usher everyone into heaven), mockery of faith, and a blindness to the social position of others.

What is the byproduct of a hard heart?
Just like the yeast growing in bread, a hard heart can grow so thick that a person can't hear from God, cannot hear the voice of God through others, and if the person is unsaved . . . well. You and I always stand on the precipice of hard-heartedness. For me, hard heartedness is like a veil that comes between me and God. It's like something blocking me from being in that sweet spot with Him. Fortunately, I can hear the Holy Spirit crying for me to acknowledge the veil exists, and to tear it away through my obedience to our Lord.

Having a tender heart for the gospel, and for others, is something that requires our constant focus and prayer. It also demands that we have people in our lives who can hold us accountable when our hearts began to turn hard.