A hardened heart can dull a person’s ability to perceive and understand. Anyone’s heart can harden, even faithful Christians’. In fact, in Mark 8:17f we see Jesus’ own disciples suffering from this malady: Jesus … said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? The disciples were concerned with their meager bread supply, and it was clear that each of them had forgotten how Jesus had just fed thousands with only a few loaves. Questioning them as to the hardness of their hearts, Christ spells out for us the characteristics of this spiritual heart condition as an inability to see, understand, hear, and remember. Regarding this last criterion, too often we forget how God has blessed us and what He has done for us. Like the disciples in this instance or the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, when a new calamity arises in our lives, our hearts often fill with fear and concern. Sadly, this simply reveals to God the little faith we have in His promise to take care of us (Mat.6:32). We need to remember not only the many times God has graciously provided for us in our time of need, but also what He has told us: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Heb.13:5) Hearts can also become hardened when we suffer setbacks and disappointments in life. No one is immune to trials here on earth. Yet, just as steel is forged by a blacksmith’s hammer, so, too, can our faith be strengthened by the trials we encounter in the valleys of life. Sin causes hearts to grow hard, especially continual, and unrepentant sin. Now we know that if we confess our sins, [Jesus] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. (1 John 1:9) However, if we do not confess our sins, they have a cumulative and desensitizing effect on the conscience, making it difficult to even distinguish right from wrong. And this sinful and hardened heart is tantamount to the seared conscience Paul speaks of in 1Tim.4:1. Scripture makes it clear that if we relentlessly continue to engage in sin, there will come a time when God gives us over to our debased mind and let us have it our way. Paul writes about God’s wrath of abandonment in his letter to the Romans where we see that godless and wicked “men who suppress the truth” are eventually given over to the sinful desires of their hardened hearts (Rom.1:18f). Fortunately, God can heal any heart once we recognise our disobedience and repent of our sins. Repentance manifests itself in a changed life. After repenting of our sins, hard hearts begin to be cured when we study God’s Word. The Bible is our manual for living as it is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. (2 Tim.3:16) If we are to live life to the fullest as God intended, we need to study and obey God’s written Word, which not only keeps a heart soft and pure but allows us to be blessed in whatever we do (Jam.1:25).