Softening this Calloused Heart

I complained about Christian truisms in an earlier post. Upon further reflection, I've come to recognize the hardness of my heart.

Perhaps there is a good reason why certain sayings become truisms in the first place. Perhaps sentiments like "God is in control, He's got you" or "Let go, let God" or "Everything happens for a reason. All things, including your suffering, work for your good and God's glory" are frequently proclaimed within the Christian community precisely for their ability to succinctly express profound theological truths. Their ubiquity does not negate their legitimacy. They stem from real feelings borne out of personal experiences of divine love and mercy. They too were once precious, comforting truths I fondly cherished. 

When I first came across each of the sayings above, I marveled at their pithiness and theological depth. The truth embodied in these truisms stirred my heart to joyful praise. For example, when I first embraced God's sovereignty my junior year of undergrad, I experienced a overwhelming paradigm shift that completely overhauled my thinking on hardship and flourishing.

The problem isn't Christian truisms per se, the problem is me. It's the fact that I've allowed the truth underpinning them to become banal and trite to my heart. As the song Amazing Grace goes, "How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed," I pray that that grace keeps being precious to me.