Are you a stubborn person?

Stubbornness is one of those character qualities that can be a liability or an asset.

In the Old Testament, God often rebukes His people Israel for being “stiff-necked.” 

It’s a Hebrew term that describes a person’s unwillingness to be turned. Like when you tug right on the horse’s reins, but he keeps on going straight; he has a mind of its own.

He’s stiff-necked.

This kind of spiritual stubbornness toward God must be avoided at all cost, for:

Yeah, don’t want that.

On the other hand, “stubbornness” can actually be a good thing.

In fact, the Bible calls to be steadfast in our faith; we need the quality of stick-to-itiveness when serving Jesus.

That’s how God wants us to be: yielded to Him, but stubborn regarding moral compromise.

Sanctified stubbornness—it’s a beautiful thing.

But sadly.

This grace will not characterize the people living in those terrible last days; in fact, defiant unbelievers will take stubbornness to a whole new level.

The Lord tried to woo them with His love, but they spurned the Gospel and got left behind to experience the last seven years of human history.

And while the horrendous plagues described in Revelation are indeed punishment for a world guilty of attempted deicide, there’s something else God is hoping for:

Repentance.

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “I take no delight in the death of the wicked, but rather that they’d turn from their sins and be saved (Ezekiel 33:11).

Like CS Lewis wrote in his book The Problem with Pain:

“God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts to us in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

And here’s the crazy part.

These stiff-necked sinners ignore the Megaphone of Megaphones (Matthew 24:21!).

They survive earth altering asteroid strikes, nuclear exchanges, cataclysmic disasters that will render the oceans without life and the heavens without light, but will still stubbornly shake their fists at God.

It’s the end of the world and yet they stubbornly hold on to their darling sins for which they will gladly forfeit even their own souls.

Now that’s stubborn.

So, in these troubled times, watch your hearts, my friends. For all of Adam’s race are prone toward being “stiff-necked.”

So we need to stay soft and pliable on the inside.

When the Lord gives the slightest little tug, turn; when you hear that still, small voice, obey.

It’s never a good idea to get into a standoff with the Most High. If He wants more ownership, just give it to Him.

This is the one fight you want to lose. Let the Lord win the battle for your heart.

Because to lose the battle against the Lord of love, is to win!

Bigtime.