Why are our hearts hard Mark 6: 30- 56

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Early in Jesus' ministry he set out to test the quality of his disciple's faith. As soon he called them he sent them out on ministry assignments (6:12). They had mostly success, but their success was interrupted by the execution of John the Baptist. So on this occasion he calls them for some relax and rejuvenation, which gets interrupted by ministry demands. So Jesus attempts to take them by boat to a solitary place the crowd follows them. As the day progress the disciples get concerned that they have no food for the crowd, and suggest to Jesus that he send the people away. He tells them to feed the people. They tell Jesus it would take 8 months wages to buy food for this crowd.
Jesus asks what do you have. To demonstrate their helplessness they bring Jesus all they have -- five loaves and two fishes. Jesus promptly thanks God for his sustenance and gives enough fish and bread back to the disciples to feed the crowd, which they promptly do, leaving twelve basket fulls of leftovers. God takes what little they have and turns it into abundance when dedicated to him.

Later in the day Jesus finally gets alone, and for some reason we find the disciples on the water in a stormy sea. It is the fourth watch of the night or between 3AM and 6AM. They don't know what to do. Jesus walks out to them on the water climbs in the boat and calms the storm. Once again they are afraid of him. In the morning when they land the text says the people recognized him and began bringing sick people for him to heal.

Have you ever noticed that it was the unbelievers in this passage who relied on Jesus to meet their need. They came to him notout of dedication to his cause, but strictly for their selfish needs. Jesus met them. Yet twice when the disciples were faced with overwhelming needs they failed to trust Jesus. Why? Mark said they had not learned anything from the loaves "because their hearts were hardened."

Do you know why so many Christians are powerless today? Jesus is active all around us. We fail to see it. Yet many unbelievers pray to him and get answers on a greater scope than we. Reason?Perhaps our hearts are hard.

Our own sin prevents us from turning to Jesus. Our desire to control or do things our way causes unbelief. Jesus is active all around us. There are revival fires stirring all over the world, but very little is happening in the American church. One of the reasons may be that our hearts are hard. We are willing to pay the cost that comes with commitment. We ignore sin in our lives and our church's. We are uncompassionate, unforgiving, resentful people.

How do we soften our hearts?We look at Jesus. The disciples saw the people they saw overwhelming need and responsibility. Jesus saw sheep without shepherds. They complained about what they lacked. Jesus thanked God for what little they had and trust him to expand it. They got on the boat and fought their surroundings. Jesus joined them and overcame them. Jesus got away and prayed.

To soften our hearts we need to be sensitive to the needs of people and trust God to use what little we have for his grand purposes. We need to turn every task over to him we need to seek him in prayer. Then he will come to us and turn our little loaves into abundance, calm our storms and give us safety and security.

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