A hardened heart is the most difficult thing work with in the church.  It really doesn’t matter whether the person is an active part of church work, or if they want nothing to do with you or the message you speak.  Hardness is a difficult and unfruitful condition of individuals who are not in a growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  To be in relationship with Him requires that we become humble and relinquish control of our own life and destiny to, “Him who is able to keep us from falling.” (Jude 1:24)  The humility that is required begins and ends in the heart because it is from the heart that the mouth speaks and the body acts.  When the heart is soft and pliable the individual is able to follow Jesus and lead others to Him.  However, when the heart is hard, there is no amount of pressure that can be applied to force the individual to move, change, or care about anything other than themselves. 

A hardened heart is most easily combated by the person who senses that they have a hard heart in the first place.  When we notice that we have a hard heart we must work against our instinct to be antagonistic, or argumentative.  We must begin to become open to the possibility that other’s needs are more important than our own, and that we must be the one to help meet those needs.  This revelation is only available to those who are already believers.  Without a relationship with the Christ, any activity to make the heart malleable will only result in the tempering of that same heart which will result in a hardness that may never be overcome.

Religious activity without relationship with Jesus will result in the coldest and hardest of hearts.