A tender heart is the opposite of a heart that is hardened or cynical. A tender heart is often found in a young child who has not yet been hurt by people or disillusioned with life. One of the greatest gifts that parents can give their children is to love them as Jesus would love them so that their heart will stay tender toward the Lord.
Proverbs 4:3,4 When I was a son to my father,
Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother,
Then he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
Keep my commandments and live;
A tender heart is a teachable heart and one that believes in God. We are all brought into the world believing in God. We have to be taught that there is not a God. Children want to come to the Lord and the Lord says that those who come to Him as a child will receive His kingdom and He will receive them into it.
Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
We must be converted and become like children to enter His kingdom. A child has a tender trusting heart and the Lord wants us to come to Him with a tender trusting heart just like a child comes to One whom he can trust.
Matthew 18:3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Our hearts must become tender like the heart of a child so that we will have the faith of a child. A child will simply trust those whom they know love them. The Lord wants us to trust Him just as a child has a trusting heart. When we come to Him we become His child.
Romans 8:16,17 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
We may have to come to Him in faith that He will change our heart and make it tender if we have gotten older and no longer are trusting. He gives us a new heart and it is a tender heart. Keep it tender toward Him by listening to Him and trusting Him.
II Chronicles 34:27 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.
When our heart is tender toward the Lord then we will humble ourselves before Him and hear His words. He will hear us when we cry to Him and weep before Him, just as a loving parent hears the cries of their child.
Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
When our heart is tender towards others then we will forgive them just as God in Christ has forgiven us.
Mark 8:17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
A lack of faith and a hardened heart go hand in hand. Do you want to grow in your faith? Is your heart tender toward the Lord as it was when you first came to know Him or when you were a child? Ask the Lord to help you if you find that you are having a hard time believing Him or difficulty in forgiving someone. Ask Him to give you a tender heart towards Him and others. If we ask anything according to His will then He hears us and we know that He wants us to be tender-hearted.
I John 5:14,15 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
Instructions To A Young Life 