“‘For this people’s heart has become calloused;

        they hardly hear with their ears,

        and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

        hear with their ears,

        understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:15)

Heal them. Jesus yearned for his people to turn back to him so that he could heal them! The “otherwise” means that if they weren’t so hardheaded, they would turn to him and he would heal them. This truth is essential to your view of the gospel. It will shape your convictions about nearly everything else. God wants to restore us. Our part is to “turn,” to repent as best we can. But we also need his healing. As Ephesians 1:4 says, God chose us to make us whole and holy through his love. God will make known to us the path of life if we will follow him. And as we do, we will find along that path our need for wholeness and holiness.

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