“Dodge Trucks are Ram Tough.” Slogans about the toughness of a product are everywhere. Some things in this life are tough, and they do not crumble upon impact. Some things are built to be tough. Other things are tender. Some things are supposed to be easy to mold – to change. God wants your heart to be tender. Life can cause it to become tough. Life can cause it to become hardened.
God wants you to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. Ephesians 4:32 reads, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (NKJV). Mark 3:5 is one of the few occasions where the Scriptures describe Jesus as angry. It reads, “And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts” (NKJV).
When we become hard and refuse to listen to God, we also fail to act like God. When we refuse to extend the grace we receive from God, then we lose that grace. Jesus spoke, “Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). The opposite is also true; unhappy is the unmerciful, for they shall not obtain mercy.
Jesus further declared, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25-26).
We are to see others’ needs and have compassion. We are to look at others’ pains and feel for them. We are to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). As you examine your heart and your life, are you tenderhearted?
