“What do you feel like having for breakfast,” I asked myself.

The response came pretty quickly, “A soft-boiled egg.”

It had been a very long time since I had eaten one, maybe even years. But suddenly I wanted one like my mom used to make us. And I wanted to eat it in the same manner as when I was a kid.

I wanted to hold it in my hand, tap the top lightly but enough to crack. Then peel back enough of the shell to expose a crown of white. Then lightly spoon off the top to reveal the soft and delicious yoke inside.

Only something went wrong. As I poked my spoon into the egg, I was disappointed to discover it was hard boiled instead.

The egg had remained in the water a little longer, not much longer either. But it was enough to turn the soft, runny yolk into a solid yolk. Eating my now hard-boiled egg, the words came softly, “Hearts turn much like those eggs.”

“For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand … For the hearts of these people are hardened …”
(Matthew 13: 13a, 15a, NLT)

It’s a fine line between soft and hard, often the change is undetectable. Much the way the yolk gradually changes as the water boils, so our hearts slowly harden and become callous.

Only God can do something with our hardened hearts.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26, NKJV)

God takes our hardened hearts, which have become callous and unfeeling, and in exchange gives us a totally new heart. He gives us a heart that is soft, pliable, malleable, and yielding to Him. He then enables our hearts to long for and pursue after Him.

Amazing to me is that this is a promise He has given to us. God promises a radical change in our hearts which will cause our hearts to become teachable through His Spirit in us.

“Spirit-filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They believe with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with a fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the fire of God.” (Samuel Chadwick)

(as quoted in The Key Word Commentary by Mark Water)

I think I want a soft-boiled egg for breakfast!

Today I am joining … Thought Provoking Thursday and Grace Moments .