Don't Be Stiff-Necked

"Circumcise their hearts and be stiff necked no longer" 

Deuteronomy 10:16

There are many places in the Bible that talk about not being stiff-necked. To be stiff-necked means to be stubborn, arrogant, or aloof. The Israelites witnessed many miracles yet they were always turning away from God and turning towards idols, criticism, sloth and negativity. They constantly whined about being freed from the Egyptians just to be led into the desert, discounting or forgetting the miracles God provided to save them. Even in the New Testament Stephen tells the Sanhedrin that they are stiff-necked because they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah and didn't want to see changes in the law of Moses. 

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. 

You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" 

Acts 7:51 

There are still many stiff-necked Christians today. We declare we love God, accept Jesus in our hearts, and yet we don't allow Him into our lives. We keep our own agendas and sins. We whine when He wants us to do something that we don't want to do. We keep parts of our lives and secret sins from Him as though He can not see them. We compromise on many things allowing the world to dictate our lives so that we continue to find acceptance in the it. We keep our faith to ourselves so that we do not offend anyone or so that we do not put ourselves out there for the world to criticize. 

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, 

love for the Father is not in them." 

1 John 2:15

We need to be convicted to follow God, and not keep our lives separate from Him. He needs to be in the driver seat of our lives showing us the direction to go and controlling the speed we get there. When we are convicted to follow Him, we need to not allow other people's opinions to change our minds or hearts. All that shows is that the world is leading us, not God. 


My prayers for myself and my fellow siblings in Christ are that we are not stiff-necked towards God. That we cut off the parts of our hearts and ears stopping us from truly following God, and that we instead follow Him so completely the world sees it and wants to follow Him too. I pray we never worry about others' opinions to the point we compromise our faith. Jesus was sent here to save the world. We are Jesus's disciples. How are we obeying Him? 

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him." 

John 3:17