No callousness

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

NO CALLOUSNESS

Acts 28:23-28

23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 26 "'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." 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.'   28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"  

NIV

These last few words of Paul have several interesting points. We already explored the idea of declaring the truth as we considered that Paul talked from morning till night. We wondered if we could have that effect on people and convince people from the things they might be familiar with as Paul used the law of Moses and the prophets. Now we want to consider this idea of hearing but not understanding and seeing by never perceiving. In addition, we wonder about becoming calloused and hardly hearing or closing our eyes. Of course, Paul was speaking about the Jews who profess they know the law and prophets that are read every Sabbath in the synagogue, and yet they refuse to acknowledge that they all speak about Jesus as the Messiah in one way or another. At least we understand enough to know that Jesus is the Son of God and is the Messiah, our Savior. Paul said the Holy Spirit spoke the truth to the forefathers of the Jews through the prophet Isaiah. It is interesting that we have that same Holy Spirit dwelling within us and we know without a shadow of a doubt that he speaks the truth into our hearts and minds. However, are we listening and understanding? Are we seeing and perceiving? Have we allowed him to circumcise our hearts so that there is absolutely no callousness there? We wonder if we have come to a particular conclusion on our own and keep that filter in place whenever we read the word of God, thus not being open to the change or transformation the Spirit wants to happen in our lives. We understand that being transformed is an ever-ongoing process, which means we must always be willing to see and hear the truth, even if it means changing the way we think about a certain scripture. We can never close our hearts and minds to change and to the transforming power of the truth. It is true that when we accepted Jesus as our Savior we were immediately transformed from sinner to saint, from being a dead man walking to a child of God, alive forevermore. However, that was just the beginning of a life of constant learning and comprehending the truth of God, thus being transformed into the likeness of Jesus with ever-increasing glory, so that we reflect the glory of the Lord more and more each day of our lives. If we allow that Spirit to have full access then we will hear and understand and see and perceive and our hearts will contain absolutely no callousness at all.