When we were kids, many of our moms told us, “If you make that face long enough, it’ll get stuck that way.” I certainly heard that warning many times as I stuck out my tongue at my sisters. And we all know how bad habits form a rut that makes it harder and harder over time to pull out of.
Turns out our moms were on to something. When Jesus came into a synagogue to preach, the religious leaders “watched Him closely,” hoping that He would break one of their man-made rules “so thay they might accuse Him.” Mark 3:2. Jesus knew that they were plotting against Him, wanting to accuse Him of breaking their rules for healing someone on the Sabbath. Jesus healed the man despite the Pharisees’ condemnation, but He was “grieved by the hardnes of their hearts.” Mark 3:5.
The word for hardness in Greek, as used in this passage, is “porosis,” which refers to blindness caused by hardening or callousness. It is also a medical term that describes the process of a fractured bone’s extremity being petrified.
When we continually choose not to see the love of God, when we choose only to see how Jesus breaks the rules we’ve erected to give us a sense of control over our world, we fracture our relationship with our creator, just like breaking a bone in our arm. If we leave that bone broken, it will eventually set in that crooked, broken position. The end of the bone, broken off from its source of life, will harden, become useless, petrified. It will get stuck that way just like Mom warned.
But the great news is (and there’s always great news to be found in God’s kingdom), with one cry of a hardened heart, Jesus can turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26. So Moms need not worry when their kids make faces at each other. They’re not really gonna get stuck that way. But anyone who sets his face against God and continues to scowl at Him, refusing to accept His love, will too soon get stuck that way.
If your face is stuck in a permanent scowl, just look up! Turn your eyes to look for God. If you choose to begin the journey back to Him, He will return to you. Zechariah 1:3. You might even find yourself smiling.
Amen and amen.
So You Will Know 