Wednesday, May 14, 2008

WHY Would God Open YOUR Heart?

Let us read Acts 16:14, “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message” – especially the last part, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.”

A Bible teacher, who exalts so much the human free will, told me through the email that though God opened the heart of Lydia and she responded to Paul’s message, it does not mean that whenever God opened the heart of others, they would also respond just like Lydia.

As if he was saying, God could open our hearts, but, because we have the freedom of choice, we could still refuse to respond to the Gospel!

The verse, however, makes me realize that though the tendency of our fallen nature is to respond negatively to God, because of His grace, He would open our hearts, so we could respond positively to Him. We could not boast that we respond to His message, because we just choose to. We respond to Him, because He has opened our hearts.

We did not choose Him. He had chosen us. We called upon Him, because He had called us. We knew Him, because He first knew us and made Himself known to us. We loved Him, because He first loved us.

And God would open our hearts in order for us to respond to Him – not to resist or reject Him.