The Peril of a Soft Heart
(Photo: Nesha’s Vintage Niche)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9
Let me be clear up front: a Christian should have a soft heart. Soft with compassion, soft with forgiveness, soft with refusal to judge or condemn people God longs to redeem. That would be everyone.
So where’s the peril of a soft heart? It arises when our gracious choice not to judge people becomes a foolish choice not to judge sin. Or when we call morally neutral, or even celebrate, what God calls sin. With this kind of soft heart we can deceive ourselves and raise our own risk of falling. Or we can deceive others that a saving relationship with God doesn’t have to change their lives.
This struggle is most visible right now surrounding homosexuality and gay marriage. I have said before, and I will say again, that it’s time for Christians to drop the culture warrior mentality on this issue. It’s not our job to chase after a culture that’s running from God; these fights can only raise barriers between us and individuals outside the faith. So I applaud the Christians who are reaching out, even apologizing to the gay community for hateful behavior, both past and unfortunately present.
But some Christians are walking right up to a very fine line and crossing it. Suddenly, God accepts not only homosexuals but their behavior, and the advance of gay marriage is a victory.
It all feels like earthly values of tolerance and enlightenment bundled into a happy package with heavenly virtues of kindness and compassion. It also doesn’t square with what the Bible says. It’s just another case of trying to live with one foot in the world and the other in God’s kingdom.
This kind of thinking extends to other behaviors, mostly in relationships. Premarital sex, living together before marriage, hasty divorce with no effort to reconcile – even abortion in some Christian circles – are things to tiptoe around. God’s teaching is too hard, or our fear of rejection is too strong, for our kind hearts to lay the truth on the table. Again, we shouldn’t be slamming doors on people who have engaged in immorality, or beating them over the head with their behavior. Jesus certainly didn’t, and every believer lives under the same grace. But that’s not the same as saying these behaviors are okay.
If we deceive ourselves on moral matters, we become unreliable witnesses to others, and we passively deny God’s power to change hearts. We also become vulnerable. Are you married? It could end; tomorrow you could be widowed. How would you behave in a future relationship? Would you think yourself entitled to whatever makes you happy, because that’s what your soft heart would want for others? Or would you remember and follow the Bible’s teachings?
And if someone asked you point blank what your faith teaches about relationships, would you be able and willing to answer with the truth? Or would you give tacit approval to lifestyles that are incompatible with committed Christianity? If it would be the latter, chances are your soft heart has become shapeless as to God’s truth, choosing to spare feelings even at the cost of endorsing sin.
reason4thehope 
Perhaps there is a difference between a soft heart and a mushy brain.
Now, that seems kinda mean, but think…if more folks would stop listening to the religious, judgmental voices and simply read the scripture and see the examples we can read of Jesus.
Jesus never embraced iniquity, but clearly embraced people. The woman at the well…a Samaritan…was married 5 times, living with a 6th man. After she talked with Jesus, she went to go tell her friends and neighbors. We notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Wait, whoa…lady, please don’t tell them about me until you get your life straight first. I really don’t think you would represent Me very well, considering your lifestyle.”
We need to see scripture for what is really there. We need to stop giving deference to these alleged leaders who don’t teach scripture “rightly divided”, who ignore context as well as the example of Jesus.
Thank you, sir. Once again, you have nicely balanced a serious topic. May all our hearts be soft enough to hear His voice, heed His call and see the concerns of His children.
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