Are You Sensitive?

Are You Sensitive?

I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart.

Ezekiel 11:19

“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD.

2 Chronicles 34:27, NASB

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Psalm 51:17

Have you ever had a section of skin that was very tender due to a burn or an injury? You probably didn’t want anything to touch it or put pressure on it because it was so sensitive.

Having a heart that is sensitive to being touched—even though it might cause some pain—is something that God values and is even drawn to. As he works in us, his goal is not to give us thick skin so that nothing can hurt us. In fact, the Bible is filled with warnings about becoming callous, insensitive, and hard hearted.

The opposite of being tender is being cold and machinelike about the things of God and the hurts of others. Nothing can touch people who are like this. They pride themselves in their lack of tears. They carefully protect their hearts from being broken by the things that break the heart of God, and therefore they have little genuine closeness to him.

God wants us to stay soft and tender, moldable, and even vulnerable, because this is what we need to be responsive to him. We’ll know we’re being soft toward God when we’re sensitive to sin, compassionate toward the hurts of others, and ready to listen for God’s direction and guidance.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What does it mean to be sensitive? Would you consider yourself to be a sensitive person?

Why do you think some people tend to be uncomfortable with sensitivity and tenderness?

What are some signs to watch for that indicate a growing insensitivity to the things of God?