LARRAPY Convos – Blog 115: Staying Tender-Hearted in a Hard World

Introduction:

Hardness is easy. Tenderness is warfare. When life wounds, disappoints, and betrays, the natural instinct is to harden up. But Christ calls us to a higher way — staying soft, loving, hopeful even when it hurts.

In False Gods Among Us, I show how staying tender is radical resistance to a cynical world.

Main Points:

• Tenderness Protects Your True Self: Hardened hearts lose their original design.

• Forgiveness and Gratitude Soften Armor: They dismantle bitterness layer by layer.

• Tenderness Increases Discernment: A soft heart hears God more clearly.

• Resilience and Tenderness Aren’t Opposites: True strength feels deeply but heals wisely.

• Christ Modeled Courageous Tenderness: Love remains fierce, even wounded.

Practical Tips for Staying Tender-Hearted:

• Practice daily emotional self-care check-ins.

• Forgive quickly to prevent bitterness roots.

• Pray blessings over enemies (this guards softness).

• Worship often — it melts hardened places.

🧠 Mental Health Commentary:

Emotional numbing protects temporarily but damages long-term well-being. Maintaining vulnerability, gratitude, and emotional literacy safeguards joy and connection.

✝️ Spiritual Commentary:

Ezekiel 36:26 promises, "I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

🌍 Cultural Commentary:

Cynicism is often celebrated in modern culture as "realism." Remaining tender in Christ-centered love offers prophetic resistance and healing witness.

Conclusion:

Stay tender. Stay human. Stay holy. A soft heart changes harder worlds.

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