See No Jesus, Hear No Jesus, Have No Jesus!

Acts 28:27
For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.

Working out in the gym on a regular bases over the years without gloves has caused my hands to get calluses; rough spots on my hands that allow me to feel as keenly as I used to. The repetition as of the friction on the iron bars over the years has caused them to be rough. That area on my hands is not as sensitive to touch as it used to be because it’s been worn over. I’ve gotten used to it. I’d rather have callus hands then a callus heart.

We seem to live in a time where people have been rubbed the wrong way for a long time, over and over to the point that their hearts are no longer sensitive to the voice of God. There used to be a time when we could hear God speak to us as children. We could see him in the rainbow, hear him in the rustling of the wind, but now we can’t hear him scream through the word.

There used to be a time when the Black Church was the lighthouse and place of refuge for the poor and disenfranchised especially during the Civil rights era but the great grandchildren of that era have grown callus because of a few things:

1. Exposure to bad religion. After the civil rights era we embraced a semblance of prosperity and started worshipping the material and forgot about the creator. Then the church started practicing bad religion. Bad or worthless religion is when we ignore the poor, the orphaned, and the widow. Bad religion has made some people hard hearted toward Jesus and his church because of misrepresentation.

2. Some are hard-hearted because they are drunk with the wine of the world. When we become pleasure seekers we become insensitive to God. Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol give us the illusion of fulfillment but really numb the reality of our emptiness. After a while God no longer matters. When you are high you ain’t trying to hear what Jesus is putting in your ear.

3. Worries of this world choke out the word. When we are constantly stressing out over the issues in our lives we can’t hear Jesus. Oh what needless pains we bear when we fail to take them to Jesus and leave them there.

4. The middle ground of unbelief. Many of us are like the father who told Jesus, “I believe but help me with my unbelief.” We are stuck between the agnosticism of a Bill Maher, politically insightful but spiritually toxic and untruly conservative to the point that everybody that disagrees with us must be from the devil. This kind of polarization puts spiritual seekers in a place of unbelief; Which is detrimental because it is impossible to please God without faith.

We need to ask God to give us a new heart so we can hear him again.

1. Ask God to change your heart. Ezekiel 11:19

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

2. Parents have to turn their hearts back to their children. Malachi 4:6

He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

3. Go back and listen to the word. Romans 10:14-16 (New International Version, ©2010)

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”[a]Humble yourself before God.

4. Humble yourself before God. 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

No Jesus. No peace! Know Jesus. Know Peace!

Dear God,
Touch our hearts again. Open up deaf ears. Please don’t give up on this generation. We still need you and there are those of us who still believe in you. We love you Jesus and we still hear you and see you in every move of grace that we experience from the Father. Keep talking Jesus because your servants are listening.

In Jesus Name,

Amen