Tuesday 8, September 2026

Today’s Holy Nougat is not an easy one to digest. Yet, sometimes it is important to chew on such words.

Mark 4:12 NIV

[12] so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”

Y’shua, the Gatekeeper

Seeing and not perceiving, hearing but not understanding is hard to swallow, coming from Y’shua. Yes, we know of hard hearted individuals, but it seems Y’shua is not trying to help such persons access Heaven. That’s not the picture we like to carry of Y’shua.

Point to Ponder

How do we view Y’shua? Is He mild and malleable, or capable of passing the wrath of God to others?

Digging Deeper

The Bible has some texts that would suggest that God ignores some people or leaves them to their own devices. I think of the pharaohs in Exodus, whose heart were hardened against the Children of Israel. Next, we read of God hardening the heart of the pharaoh in charge of Egypt when Moses returned, and it seems that God was being unfair. We do not enjoy picturing God or Y’shua as gatekeeper, denying entry to Heaven.

For some of us, it is difficult to see these texts and still understand God as kind, loving, and faithful. Yet, from the warning to Adam, we find that free will affords us humans the capacity to think for ourselves. We don’t always choose wisely. Perhaps those are the choices that harden hearts and stop ears from hearing God.

Have we discovered that our hearts have begun to get hardened? Perhaps we can trace the process to address the root cause.

For some of us, the process was gradual, but the final result was the same. The flame of God’s Spirit was extinguished from our souls. That’s where the danger lies. We must safeguard the presence of God’s Spirit within through intentional interaction with God. Our prayers, time with and in the Word, and interactions with other Christian believers can help us. Accountability to Y’shua and others is beneficial. This should reduce the likelihood of our hearts becoming so hard that we are among those who cannot be forgiven. For then, it becomes less about Christ as gatekeeper, and more the consequences of our choices.

May I suggest, siblings, that we cannot be content that our hearts or others’ hearts are hardened. That’s not God’s desire for us. We must choose to sin less. It may not be easy, but it’s doable. And God will help us if we ask. Despite predicting Pharaoh’s hardened heart, God gave him opportunities to do differently.

As believers, we have the weapon of prayer. It may be that our prayers and our living witness to God’s grace become that which shifts someone’s perspective of God. Note that God is crucial to this equation. We cannot personally transform others, but we can pray. It may be tempting to give up on others because of their unbelief. Can we choose instead to pray for them?

Self-Check

Are our souls soft and yielded, keeping God as priority in our lives? If not, let’s shift some priorities, so we retain access to God’s mercy.

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May all we seek be found in Christ