How have you been blessed by having a soft heart?
"1 Now these are the words which Amulek preached unto the people who were in the land of Ammonihah, saying:
2 I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi; and it was that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God.
3 And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.
4 And behold, I am also a man of no small reputation among all those who know me; yea, and behold, I have many kindreds and friends, and I have also acquired much riches by the hand of my industry.
5 Nevertheless, after all this, I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous power. I said I never had known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power; yea, even in the preservation of the lives of this people.
6 Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign of the judges.
7 As I was journeying to see a very near kindred, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and said: Amulek, return to thine own house, for thou shalt feed a prophet of the Lord; yea, a holy man, who is a chosen man of God; for he has fasted many days because of the sins of this people, and he is an hungered, and thou shalt receive him into thy house and feed him, and he shall bless thee and thy house; and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thy house.
8 And it came to pass that I obeyed the voice of the angel, and returned towards my house. And as I was going thither I found the man whom the angel said unto me: Thou shalt receive into thy house—and behold it was this same man who has been speaking unto you concerning the things of God.
9 And the angel said unto me he is a holy man; wherefore I know he is a holy man because it was said by an angel of God.
10 And again, I know that the things whereof he hath testified are true; for behold I say unto you, that as the Lord liveth, even so has he sent his angel to make these things manifest unto me; and this he has done while this Alma hath dwelt at my house.
11 For behold, he hath blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed, and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake." (Alma 10: 1-11)
And here's the ending part of the commentary entitled: "If I do not harden my heart, I can receive more of the word of God." :
"What does Amulek’s experience teach you about the blessings of having a soft heart? (see Alma 10:1–11).
See also “Alma Warns Zeezrom” (video), Gospel Library."
Just as Amulek and his house experienced plenty of blessings, there is an abundance of blessings the Lord has in store for you if you have a soft heart.
A hard-hearted person sounds similar to a closed-minded person. When your mind is closed, you're no longer receiving any new knowledge. you're stuck to only what you know, so your knowledge is no longer growing so is your wisdom. It's because you don't want to receive any more knowledge. You think what you have is already enough despite the fact that the sea of knowledge is endless.
In the parable of the sower, the seeds were planted on different types of soil or ground. The seed is the word of God and depending on the type of ground it fell and got planted, it would either grow or die. On the soil that is fertile, the seed would grow. On the wayside, where the soil is hard, the seed would not grow. Your heart and my heart--that's the soil where the word of God got planted. If your soil is hard or you have a hard heart, the word of God that's planted will not grow. On the other hand, if your soil is soft or fertile, you have a soft heart, the word of God will grow up to become a big fruit-bearing tree (as described by Alma). This tree bears plenty of fruits. The fruits are the blessings God has in store for you because of having a soft heart, which comes in its season or according to God's will and timing.
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