A Callous or a Tender Heart

Have you ever had a callous on your hand or foot after working in a garden or running in a long-distance race? Skin that once was tender became tough and thick after friction and pressure were continually applied to it.  Callouses can be good for a guitar player who wants to toughen up their skin so they can play without finger pain.  But there are other instances where callouses are bad, such as having a calloused heart.  Perhaps your once tender heart towards the Lord has become hardened as life circumstances continued to rub against you and now you don't respond to His voice or even to the needs of those around you like you once did. 

We all go through challenging times in life that bring friction and pressure, but how we navigate through these times determines how we come out of them. We can anchor ourselves in Christ and He will protect us from the relentless winds that would try to callous our hearts.  Picture two boats alongside a dock; one is anchored down and the other isn't. When a storm approaches and the waves come sweeping in, the boat that is anchored is the one that made it through the storm intact. 

A practical way to be anchored in Christ would be to have a forgiving heart and trust Him with every fiber of our being no matter what we see or feel. We can let His Word and Spirit guide us, just like a pilot uses his control panel to guide him and not his physical senses.  I've learned that in the times when I truly didn't trust Him I became discouraged and depressed because I was shutting off His source of hope and life from flowing in.

We are to be quick to forgive an offense, if not, bitterness that was once a blister can grow into a hard callous in our hearts.  Psalms 119:165 says "Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them."  Throughout life, be quick to forgive and don't stop to hold offenses in your heart, but rather let go and trust God and keep walking with a tender heart.