The Impressionable Heart

With several ministries in hiatus during the summer holidays, I have enjoyed supplementing my time by reading books by eminent Christian authors.  C.H. Spurgeons "The Sword and the Trowel" is packed with valuable gems easily gathered up by those who seek the wisdom of the ancients.  One printed tract aimed at believers was most useful and thought provoking, an exhortation to seize the opportunity to share Christ when hearts are soft and most receptive to spiritual truth.  Here is a small sampling from the "prince of preachers:"

Quick must be the hand if an impression is to be made upon the wax.  Once let the wax cool and you will press the seal in vain.  Cold and hard it will be in a few moments, therefore let the work be quickly done.  When men's hearts are melted under the preaching of the Word, or by sickness, or the loss of friends, believers should be very eager to stamp the truth upon the prepared mind.  Such opportunities are to be seized with holy eagerness.  Reader, do you know of such?  If you be a lover of the Lord Jesus hasten with the seal before the wax is cold.  Perhaps, dear reader, you are yourself unsaved; then look at the woodcut, and remember that such is your life.  It is like the flame upon the stick of wax, and your soul is like the wax which drops upon the envelope, capable of receiving an impression while you are alive, but soon hardened and made unalterable by the cold breath of death.  If the stamp of eternal life is to be set upon your soul it must be now, for when once this life is over change is impossible. (Spurgeon, C. H. C.H. Spurgeon's Works as Published in His Monthly Magazine The Sword and the Trowel. Vol. 1. Pasadena, Tex.: Pilgrim Publications, 1975. 204. Print)

How important it is to take Spurgeon's exhortation to heart for ourselves.  How often have our hearts been warmed with holy zeal but quickly cooled in the face of opposition or doubts?  How many times have we opened the scriptures and no impression was made upon us by God's Word, though written with iron pen and a tip of diamond?  Our cold hearts can be as frozen earth, impregnable by the good seed.  There is great need in all God's people to be baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire through faith in Christ, otherwise our hearts will be hard and unyielding to Gospel truth.  When God opens our eyes to softness and receptivity in others let us seize the opportunity.  But let us not despair and withhold God's truth even from those we imagine carry in their bosoms a dead hearts of stone, for God is able to raise up children of Abraham from stones if need be.  May we long for soft hearts melted by God's grace and love, having been sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The heat of the flame melts wax only in close proximity.  A flame even inches away from the candle will have no effect upon it.  Once the wick is lit, however, the direct heat from the flame begins to melt the candle.  We may look upon Christ with awe at a distance, even delighting in the Light of the world.  Our great need is to cultivate the presence of God, communing with the Almighty God in worship through faithfully following Him, seeking Him, and obeying His counsel.  Only then will we enjoy the unbroken fellowship with God's presence He intends and have cultivated within us soft hearts which perceive His still small voice and are empowered to walk accordingly.  Let us not remain at a distance when Jesus has drawn near to each one of us.