A Tender Heart. 3
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First, by warming afresh at the fire of God's love. This is ever the most effectual means of removing hardness of heart. What was it, which melted and broke you down at your first conversion? Was it not a sense of the Divine grace, and a sight of Christ's dying love? And nothing else is so calculated to soften the backslider. It is "the goodness of God" which leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). What was before David when he commenced his contrite confession? This: the Lord's "loving-kindness" and the "multitude of His tender mercies" (Psalm 51:1).
When was it that Peter went out and wept bitterly? Was it not, when the Savior "turned and looked upon him" (Luke 22:61)? Was it not the sorrow which Peter saw in that look—a sorrow which issued from love for him—which broke his heart?! The Lord had given him every proof that he was dear unto Him, and how had Peter requited that love? And has not the Lord given you, my brother, my sister, abundant evidence that you are precious in His sight? Did He deem any sacrifice too great to make atonement for your sins? Has He not favored you above millions of your fellows—in bringing you to a saving knowledge of the Truth? Has He not bestowed the Holy Spirit upon you? Has He not borne with your dullness—with infinite patience? Can you dwell upon these things with an unmoved heart? Surely not! Seek unto Him, then, and your coldness and hardness will indeed be thawed.
Second, by genuine CONTRITION. As it is the allowance of sin which hardens the heart, so it is sorrow for sin which softens it. Hence, when the Lord admonishes the one who has left his first love, His word is, "Remember therefore from whence you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Revelation 2:5). First, "Remember therefore from whence you are fallen," which looks back to the previous verse. Call to mind the happy fellowship you once enjoyed with the eternal Lover of your soul, when He found delight in you, and your own heart was satisfied. Consider "from whence you are fallen"—no longer leaning on His bosom—but having entered a course which both displeases and dishonors Him. Unless this produces godly sorrow in you, nothing else will, and it is godly sorrow which "works repentance" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Take a leaf out of the copybook of the prodigal son: arise, forsake the far country, return to your Father, and pour out your griefs into His welcoming ear.
Third, by the exercise of FAITH. "And do the first works" (Revelation 2:5). What was the first work you did, when you originally came to God in Christ—as an empty-handed and contrite sinner? Was it not to cast yourself upon His mercy, to lay hold of His promises, to trust in the sufficiency of Christ's atoning blood? Well, the same remedy is available now. Did not David cry, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10)?—deal with me now as You did at the first! And was he not able to say, "He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:3)? Precious promises are recorded in the Word, which exactly suit your case: "Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings" (Jer. 3:22). "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). Make these promises your own, plead them before God, and count upon Him making them good in your own case.
In conclusion, a word or two on some of the EVIDENCES of a tender heart. We mention one or two of these so that writer and reader may test himself by them. Is your heart affected by the present state of Christendom? Are you made to sigh and cry, "for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (Ezek. 9:4)? Is your experience, in some measure at least, that "Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Your Law" (Psalm 119:53)? "My eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive." (Jer. 13:17) Is that how you feel? Again, "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19): do you respond to the motions of God's Spirit? Finally, do you mourn over your own hardness of heart, and grieve over your callousness? These are some of the manifestations of a tender heart.
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