Beware of ‘sclerocardia’ (hard heart disease!)

In Mark 3:5 Jesus meets religious people whose lifeless religious laws have turned their hearts into stone. In Mark 10 it happens again when Jesus interacts with Pharisees who try their very best to find ‘legitimate rules’ for divorce. Their condition is described as sclerocardia in Greek – sclerosis of the heart. Their hearts have become too hard to even hear God’s voice. In Mark 8:17 Jesus is also worried that this condition is affecting his disciples’ hearts. Hard-hearted people can be identified by their deafness. They don’t listen to God at all, even if they sit in the front row in church. They also don’t listen to other people. They are always right, they always know best. Their stone-hard hearts let them feel nothing for God or other people. They simply uphold a number of traditions and laws. Don’t let this happen to you. Live with God’s soft heart. He gave it to you long ago, as promised in Jeremiah 24:7 and 31:33. Besides, you believe in Jesus, the Lord who transplants heavenly hearts here on earth.