Don’t Let Your Heart Go Stale
Why what surrounds you today shapes the softness of your heart tomorrow
From a super early age, my daughter has been the proud owner of her very own instagram to document all her bakes.1 Everything from Barbie New-Year cakes to carrot cakes complete with wonky fondant carrots, ‘free-from’ blueberry loaf, and endless batches of flapjacks, the variety has been vast and the creations have kept coming.
Living with her in lockdown meant one thing:
there was a lot of cake. I mean—a LOT!
And as any cake-lover knows, cake is best eaten on the day it’s baked. Leave it out too long and it quickly dries up, loses its flavour, and hardens.
Pivot with me to the psalmist’s words:
“Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts…”
Psalm 95:7b-8a NIV
The psalmist recalls Israel’s rebellion at Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17; Numbers 20), offering us a timeless warning: hearts don’t harden overnight—they harden when left unattended.
And just as with cake, the solution is all about environment. You can’t leave a sponge sitting out for a week and then decide to pop it in Tupperware. That’s too late. If you want it to stay soft, you need to place it in the right atmosphere today.
The same is true for our hearts. If we want to keep them soft and responsive, we have to be intentional about where we place them and what we surround them with.
Action is needed today.
The Hebrews writer knew the importance of today in guarding our hearts from sin and the necessity of others being involved in the process.
Left to our own devices we are easily deceived, distracted and dissatisfied.
Our hearts quickly start to dry out as sin takes its hold. But in community, we are exhorted to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,”” (Hebrews 3:13 NLT) so that we can keep our hearts soft, pliable, free and ready to respond as we hear Jesus’ voice.
Have you left your heart exposed recently?
Has it been hardening in an atmosphere of unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, distraction, pride, skewed priorities, envy, or selfishness?
Don’t leave it there any longer.
Come into the atmosphere of God’s presence today and see if He won’t take your “heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV).
A Prayer to Stay Soft:
Lord, search my heart today. Where it has been hardened by hurt, disappointment, or sin, soften it by Your Spirit. Keep me tender, responsive, and open to Your voice. I give You my heart afresh—make it Yours alone. Amen.
Sometimes the hardening of our hearts happens slowly—almost without us noticing. But today is always the moment God invites us back to softness, back to trust, back to Him.
Where do you sense God inviting you to keep your heart soft today?
My prayer is that as you lean into His presence, you’ll find the freedom and tenderness that only He can bring. Don’t wait another day—today is the perfect time to respond.
With grace and expectancy,
Em
P.S. You don’t have to fix yourself before you come; Jesus softens hearts in His presence, one day at a time.
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It’s private, so… sorry about that!
Such a great reminder. It seems like everywhere we turn these days, there are elements we should distance ourselves from. When I’m too close to the world for even short periods of time, I so easily become distracted by it. Am I the only one who feels like that?
Towards believers who have different views (those contrary to Scripture).