Hard Hearts And Unbelief 3:7–4:7 Series

We have an amazing ability to con ourselves that what we want to do is right, even when it is obviously not. Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees because they made themselves out to be super-spiritual because they paid tithes of the herbs that grew in their gardens, but neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Mt 23:23

Going to Church once, or even 3 times a week and living moral lives does not make us super-spiritual or put God in our debt. God is far more concerned that we love Him and live in a way that honours Him and benefits others.

Mt 13:15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal (see also Acts 28:27)

The answer

Have you ever put up some shelves or a fence and then later you noticed that it was all wonky. The reason is that you didn’t use a plumb-line or level to check. It looked all right, but it wasn’t until you compared it with something horizontal or vertical that you saw how bad it really was. God’s standards are like a plumb-line. When we see ourselves alongside His perfection we can see how far out we really are.

Amos 7:7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.

Putting it another way the answer is the mirror of the Word of God  Jas 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. Do we look deep into His word and see our dirty, pock marked reflection? If so do we act on what we see, or just cover the mirror over?

Another related answer is found in verse 13. We are told to Exhort one another daily. God has not left us to face the challenges and dangers of every-day life on our own, but has put us in families and churches so that we can care for one another and build one another up. An isolated Christian is in a vulnerable position

Ec 4:9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

v12-13 tells us Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily. We are all to take note of each others spiritual condition, not as busybodies, but in loving concern. We are a body and the weakness or sickness of one part diminishes the whole. (1Cor 12)