The Driveway
When I was a teen My parents and I moved into our newly constructed house. We looked forward to living in our own place after living in rentals for years. One problem with new construction though is the driveway. Unless one goes about having it professionally paved it usually turned to mud in the spring rains. My dad did not have the funds for a professional job, so I remember his car getting stuck in the mud frequently that first year. His solution was for me to cart in wheelbarrow loads of material from a shale bank and dump them in the drive. His reasoning? Most “dirt” roads of that day were constructed from shale.
Now shale is hardened clay and is not the best material in a wet environment. In fact, it is seldom used in road construction today because it decomposes. I did not know that but did what my dad told me. The result? The pieces of shale broke down into clay and mixed with the mud. It didn’t immediately solve the problem, but it helped–to a degree. At least my dad did not get stuck as often as he had before and after he did, I carted in more shale pieces that decomposed as well. Eventually we had more shale than mud in our driveway. When Summer came we found the true value of having the shale. The mixture in our drive dried out and became a hardened surface, impervious to rain enduring for years.
Hardness indeed is good for a driveway, but it is not a good quality for the human heart. Romans 2:5 states But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. This verse is a warning against having a hard heart that rejects the things of God and as a result opens one to the judgment of God..
A closer look at the meaning of the original language of the verse reveals something very interesting. The Greek word here sklērotēta, in some versions translated as stubbornness, literally means hard from being dry reminding one of the bricks in ancient days being dried and hardened in the sun. Just as the sun dried the shale mud mixture in my dad’s driveway, clay bricks became hard when they lost their moisture. And so it is with clay. It can be formed into pottery, sculptures, and bricks when still pliable, but when dry it becomes solid, inflexible, and impervious.
Applying this meaning to sklērotēta in Romans 2:5, we understand the that the hearts of men become hardened when they become dry. Ephesians 4:26 refers to the Word of God as water. We need His Word and the fellowship of other believers if we are to grow in our relationship with Him. If we instead devote our time to the things of this world including its enticements and philosophies we become dry and our hearts harden.
Romans 2:5 refers to the impenitent man who has rejected the word of salvation. Such a man is subject to God’s judgment. But there is a warning here to believers as well. When we become dry and hardened we remove ourselves from the position to receive God’s blessings. This is why many struggle with their Christian walk.
While we pass judgment on others, we too are in danger when we spend the majority of our time on things other than God’s Truth. Entertainment, worldly pursuits, intellectualism have become more important than the water of the Word. We become dry and then hardened to where when we hear the Truth, it does not penetrate to the place it needs to in order to do us good and we do not even realize it. Our hearts have turned to the things of the world rather than the things of God.
It is important to us as believers in Christ to examine ourselves. How much time do we spend studying God’s Word in comparison to other things? Do we take time to listen to what fellow believers have learned, or do we spend the most of our time listening to the philosophies of the world? What do we watch on TV or otherwise? What do we read? What do we pursue?
True Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. When we regulate it to a set of do’s and don’ts we lose sight of its lifechanging power. True Christianity is getting to know God by learning His heart. We cannot do this when we do not drink the water of His Word and fellowship with his people. Without this, I become dry. And when am dry my heart becomes hardened to where I no longer am sensitive to God’s voice in my life.
It was good when our shale/mud driveway dried out and became impervious to rain. But dryness in my heart is not good. It leads to hardness and cuts me off from the blessings of God.