Ron Writes
A video of a street preacher came up on my newsfeed the other day. Typically, I wouldn’t spend much time with such a topic. However, this guy was different. Instead of the in-your-face ranting too often seen, this man seemed to be articulate and controlled.
He was having a discussion with a woman who considered herself to be an atheist. She was demanding that this preacher give her some evidence that there is a God. It appeared to me that there must have been some discussion before the video had begun, but she still wasn’t satisfied. Then what he said really caught my attention. He asked the woman to suppose on that beautiful, clear day that the sky suddenly rolled open and a man descended from heaven with His heavenly hosts. He claimed to be Jesus and everyone who saw Him knew that it was Jesus. There could be no doubts. Then he asked “would you believe then?” And just as fast as she shook her head “no” he responded, “of course you wouldn’t. Because you don’t want to believe, you don’t want to change.” He continued “You see the problem is not an intellectual problem, but a heart problem.” Amen!
The Bible says “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” (Jere. 17:9). Jesus said “For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness” (Mk. 7:21-22). The heart of man’s problem is his heart. Hearts become hardened. Paul says this happens “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21).
Too often we’re confused by a stubborn heart and mistake it for intellectual honesty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus warned us about where we cast our pearls because not everyone wants to discern spiritual truth. Some hearts are so hard not even truth can penetrate it. So, whenever you’re tempted to be frustrated by a perception that your reasons are too inadequate, just remember the problem is not the intellect, it’s their hardened hearts.
