Today's Encouragement

The Anatomy of a Tender Heart and a Strong Voice

Amy Carroll

“LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.” Psalm 15:1-2 (NIV)

No one likes being opposed publicly. But that's exactly what happened when I posted a strong opinion on Facebook. Someone vehemently disagreed, and called me a scathing name, to boot!


With shaky hands (warning sign Number 1) and a pounding heart (ahem ... Number 2), I hammered out a response on my keyboard. I'm telling you, friends, my reply was rich. It was based in Scripture, filled with facts from the news, and let my attacker know in no uncertain terms that I considered her a bully. After a deep breath, I hit "post." I was proud of how spiritual and smart and strong I sounded.

Until the next morning.

Slowly ... very slowly ... I began to feel pinpricks of regret, followed by conviction.

Suddenly, a memory broke my heart. Last year, there was a Twitter feed that went viral when a female comedian was called the foulest name a woman can be called. Her response was stunning as she opened a grace-filled dialogue with her name-caller. By the end of the interaction, she had reached out with practical help to the man who slandered her. Just weeks before my over-reaction, I had used my social media to point to this response as the way Christians should act.

Like many, I feel a passion for addressing the issues of our culture, but God whispers to me to properly prepare first.

Before we dive into the depths of policies, politics or philosophies, God has a lesson for us. In this divided world of ours, He wants to teach us the anatomy of a tender heart.

A tender heart is a listening heart.

As we listen to God's whispers, attend to the stories of those around us and become more concerned with people's pain than casting blame or affixing a judgment, our hearts grow tender.

I’m learning to listen, and it's hard. I want to add my two cents so badly. Instead, God is teaching me to open my ears, shut my mouth and seek to understand — even when I don't agree. This practice is tenderizing a self-centered, opinionated heart.

A tender heart is a feeling heart.

King David, a man after God's own heart, expressed his full range of emotions alongside an unshakable faith. The two weren't mutually exclusive.

Truthfully, I'm a little afraid of my emotions. My passion often runs ahead of wisdom. But doing work that comes from God's heart requires passion. It necessitates joy and sorrow. God's work means entering into others’ suffering and bringing the love of Jesus there. It's not that God doesn't want us to feel. He just wants our feelings to follow Him.

A tender heart is a meditating heart.

A tender heart is immersed in Scripture. That's the place where God shows us our sin and moves us to repentance — which leads to righteousness.

David shows us the progression when he says, “LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart” (Psalm 15:1-2).

Our walk becomes blameless as we listen to God. We listen, and then we feel. We feel, and then we do what’s right. Finally, we speak. That’s the path of a tender heart.

Do you long to develop a strong voice for God in our world? Me too. In order to walk into that calling, we have to start with shaping our hearts so we can represent Him well. Not with an equally loud argument, a political party's talking points or a stronger philosophy, but with love flowing from a tender heart.