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SOUNDING
OUT:
Keep Your Heart Tender and
Pure
It is important that we
keep our hearts tender toward God. A tender and a pure
heart is “good soil” in which the Lord of
the harvest loves to work. Freewill obedience comes
from a tender and pure heart and is always available.
We should never act grudgingly or of a necessity. If
we want to hear His voice we must keep our hearts pure
and tender.
Hebrews 3:7,8,15:
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will
hear his voice, [The voice of the Lord is heard
both through the Word taught or read (e.g. Exodus 15:26;
Deuteronomy 13:18; 28:1,2,15,45; 30:8,10) and through
revelation (e.g. I Samuel 15:19-22; I Kings 20:36; Isaiah
6:8; Acts 7:31-34).]
8 Harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the
wilderness..: [Then this is repeated in verse 15.]
15 While it is said, To
day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation.
If we want to hear God’s
voice we must not harden our hearts to it. God will
not violate our free will. Willingness and obedience
is very important.
Zechariah 7:11-13:
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder,
and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their
hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the
law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent
in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came
a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
13 Therefore it is come
to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear;
so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD
of hosts:
It is not literally that
God did not hear their cry. It was that He had already
answered their cry, but they refused to receive it.
There was no use to say it again for they had hardened
their hearts against it. Their obstinacy and rejection
of the Word of the Lord was a freewill decision, and
these were the consequences.
Leaders in the church are particularly charged
to keep their hearts pure. It is one of the themes of
the Pastoral Epistles.
I Timothy 1:5:
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
I Timothy 3:9:
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
I Timothy 5:22:
Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of
other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
II Timothy 1:3:
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure
conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day;
II Timothy 2:22:
Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness,
faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart.
It is important that we
cultivate our hearts and keep them tender toward God.
We want to provide the best possible “soil”
for the Lord of the harvest to do His work. Freewill
obedience flows more uninhibitedly from a tender and
pure heart. Why should we ever act grudgingly or of
a necessity? If we want to hear His voice we must keep
our hearts pure and tender.
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