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Written by Trevor Hudson, a contemporary South African pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his book “Seeking God.”

MEDITATION:

I am sure you are familiar with God’s word that comes from the prophet, Ezekiel; “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). These words remind us that our heart has many stony bits and pieces. This hardness can range from dark feelings of uncaring, or anger and arrogance towards those in need around us, to deeply ingrained prejudices towards those different in class, culture, and color.  Sometimes this hardness of heart exists even in our most intimate relationships. We simply become unresponsive and withdrawn. Looking back, I realize that my greatest failures have been failures in compassion towards those I love most deeply.  If we want God’s compassion to flow through us, we must face honestly our hard hearts. Otherwise, they will not become hearts of flesh.  We cannot change our own hard hearts. What we can do is acknowledge our stony bits and pieces, bring them to Christ, and share them with him, as honestly as we can. Wonderfully, our compassionate God meets us in our hardness, welcomes us as we are, and offers us, with crucified hands, the gifts of loving forgiveness and transformative grace. Our hard hearts become softer. How would you describe the stony bits and pieces of your own heart?

PRAYER:

Written by Trevor Hudson, author of today’s devotional.

  Lord Jesus Christ, give me the grace to be with you in your suffering on the cross and whatever you suffer today. Free me from my tendency towards self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-interest, so that space can be created for your compassion to flow into me and through me. Help me to freely lay down my life, with the same Spirit in which you gave up your life for me, that I may take up whatever fuller and richer life you have prepared for me. And I confess that I do not find this easy. Please renew within my heart the assurance that your compassion is like a mother’s womb love that will never forget me, no matter what happens. Help me now, by your Spirit, to enter your sacred mystery of dying to live, that I may be the fruit of divine compassion towards each person in my life. May my heartbeat echo yours only. Amen.