Though this verse talks about Israel, I can't help but see that the Lord does the same thing for us at the moment of salvation. The hardest of hearts, able to be turned into hearts of flesh, living and beating for His glory. The Lord's grace seriously abounds over all sin.
I was so reminded of this this past week, when my "little" cousin, who has heard the gospel for every single week of his life at a church with solid teaching and also daily when he was in elementary, junior high and high school, finally truly heard the gospel and came to Christ this past week. The Lord is indeed able to turn any heart of stone into a heart of flesh. He seems like a totally different person now, which is pretty amazing since I've known him for about 18 years now. He just can't stop talking about it now. Seriously, praise God!
You'd think that if a person went to a sound church and grow up in a Christian school for their whole life is expected to be saved. Clearly, salvation is purely an act of grace and mercy on God's part. Truly, the sin issue is with the heart and not externally, and it's so true that the gospel is good news for the soul, and not merely a message that is good to hear once in a while.
To be honest, I often get disheartened when people are so closed off to the gospel, especially family members. Just seeing this happen right in front of my eyes is such a huge rebuke and reminder to me that salvation is solely by God's grace, and not merely by me sharing the gospel to them. And that I should just worry about being faithful to share the gospel, setting my hope in God and not in my own abilities to save.
The gospel is powered by grace and grace alone. Gotta just keep sharing the gospel so that it can be heard. :]
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