I have some questions for you. Have you ever wondered why it can be difficult sometimes to have a simple conversation with someone? Have you known anyone who will argue every point you make so that you listen to the points they want to make? Have you ever known someone who will reject the facts and the truth for what they would rather believe?
Well, if you have lived longer than a year, I am sure you have come across someone like this. They seem like the most difficult people to talk with. I can hear myself saying these people, “You cannot tell them anything.” Now, I don’t mean you cannot talk with them, I simply mean you cannot reason with them.
But we must reason with them. And we must do that by trying to get them to see themselves more than by trying to make a point with them. You must do this because people like this have hardened their hearts; they have dulled their eyes and they have closed their ears to feeling, seeing, or hearing most things that are clear to others.
In Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus speaks of these type people when He explains why He speaks in parables. Scripture says this. “Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. For the hearts of these people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed.”
Stubborn! That is my word for people like this. I believe people like this are fearful of change because they have learned to be comfortable just as they are. Jesus is of course different from me. He doesn’t use simple words for these people. He describes people like this by speaking to their hearts, their ears, and their eyes.
Sometimes we don’t hear anything contrary to what we want to hear. Our ears may hear what is spoken but we may quickly reject what we hear so that we can speak what we want to hear. As Jesus says, we may hear, but we do not understand.
Sometimes we don’t see what is contrary to what we want to see. Our eyes may see what is before us, but we tell ourselves we want to see something different. So, we cannot see what is real, only what we want to be real. As Jesus says, we may see, but we are not able to perceive what is real.
Sometimes we don’t feel what is contrary to what we feel. Our hearts may sense what is before us, but we tell ourselves we don’t want to feel that way. Instead, we want to feel the way that makes us comfortable. As Jesus says, we may feel, but we are not able to experience the right feeling.
As believers we must see, hear, and feel that life is not going to be easy for us. We do not have to come to live hardened lives because things in life are hard for us. We must learn never to harden how we live when we are faced with some hard things.
Instead, let’s learn to soften ourselves as we live in the most difficult of times. A soft answer turns away wrath. The harder we make life for ourselves, the harder life will be for us. Anyone can be your enemy if you treat them like they are an enemy. Let’s learn to respond to hard things with better things.
Jesus did that for us when He died for us, and He does this for us daily as He lives for us. Let’s learn to live a soft life in the middle of the hardest things in life.
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