Calluses

Do you ever take the time to notice hands?
There are well manicured hands, nail bitten hands, vein-y hands.
Hands with long fingers, hands with stubby fingers.
Hands with large knuckles, just begging to be cracked.
Soft, smooth hands.

When our second daughter was born, that was the first thing my husband noticed.
Look at her long fingers…
Those long fingers would eventually play the violin beautifully.
Those hands selflessly serve the children in her classroom.

Did you ever notice hard working hands?
They are smooth on the top and rough underneath.
Rough and callused.
Each callus tells a story.

My son, who plays the drums, has calluses on his hands.
His hands are smooth on the top; they are rough on the bottom.
His hands describe him perfectly: strong and gentle.
The best combination.

Calluses form when there is repeated pressure on the skin.
Forgetting to wear work gloves or wearing ill fitting shoes will cause the skin to harden.
Basically a callus is dead skin.

The rings on a tree stump tell the story of the tree.
Calluses, on the hands, say much about the person.
Calluses, on the heart, say much about our walk with God.

Though seeing they do not see; thought hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
(Matthew 13:13-15)

We have come to use the word callus as a description.
We describe someone as callused if they are hard-hearted, unfeeling, indifferent to suffering, or emotionally hardened.

Dead skin.
Dead spirit.

None of us are born with lovely hearts.
We would like to believe that our hearts become callused over time.
In reality, all of us are born with callused hearts…especially towards God.

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.  (Romans 3:10-12)

A callus on our skin needs to be removed.
The callus on our heart needs to be removed as well.

We can’t remove the callus on our own.
We may smooth it down a little with a pumice stone.
The next bit of friction or repeated pressure will cause the callus to come back.

It is no different with our hearts.
We are unfeeling, indifferent to suffering, and hard-hearted.
We are accustomed to feeling this way.
After a while we don’t even notice the callus anymore.

The only One who can remove the callus from our hearts is God.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be you God. I will save you from all uncleanness.
(Ezekiel 36:26-29)

God, the Master Surgeon, skillfully removes our callused heart of stone.
He replaces it with a pliable, teachable heart that will be inclined to the things of God.
A malleable heart that will turn towards the Master Surgeon.
A teachable heart that will learn from, and be guided by, the Spirit who is deposited there.

No temporary fix.
Permanent removal.
A heart that is inclined to walk with God…a soft-hearted, compassionate, teachable heart.
A new heart…callused no more.

 

 

2 responses to “Calluses”

1. Isn’t Bible metaphor amazing!? What good pictures we get!

   Reply

   • Al,
     Amen…and to have eyes to see the metaphors!
     All because of HIM!
     Gina

     Reply