June 13

“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality....” —EPHESIANS 4:18-19

We don’t live in a vacuum, nor behave in one, but how is that vacuum filled, and is that the premise which determines our behaviour?

Paul says of the unbelievers that their thinking is futile and they are darkened in their understanding. That is not to say they are unintelligent, but that their understanding of life is built on a premise. If that premise is faulty, as logical as their connection is to it, their thinking will be darkened, but they don’t really know they are in the dark. In reality, what they think is clever is actually built on ignorance. Paul tells us the cause that lies behind this is that they do not possess spiritual life, which is the life of God from which they have been separated.

The capacity to understand spiritual truth is dependent upon spiritual life, because it is spiritually discerned. Without the life of God, people do not know their true diagnosis. In persistent rejection of God and His Word, their hearts become hardened. The most famous hardened heart in Scripture is that of Pharaoh. With every new attempt God made to break into his heart, Pharaoh had hardened it, until he had resisted God so much, that God hardened it for him, and turned him over to his own pride and greed.

When our hearts become hardened, we begin to lose sensitivity and that gets replaced with sensuality. Sensuality is self-centered and seeks satisfaction that is never fulfilled. Whether it’s sexual, monetary or pride, the drive only gets worse, because the boundaries we set in place are no longer sufficient. We always break through them.

Sensitivity, however, is ‘other-centered’. It’s caring, loving, protects, provides and builds up. Exchanging sensitivity for sensuality is usually driven by egotism, materialism or sex, and Paul warns that this is a hardening of the heart.

As the moral and mental are combined in the heart, it is the moral disposition that will cloud and steer the mental processing. In Proverbs 23:7, the KJV says, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” The heart is the throne room of our lives, and when indwelt by the Spirit of God, our behaviour will increasingly reflect His righteousness. God has just one thing to give us and that is His Son, Jesus Christ, the only premise on which we are to build our lives.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I want the premise of my life to be built on You, and to have that revealed in my care of others. I ask that You give me a heart that is always sensitive to those in need. Thank You, Lord.

TO REFLECT UPON: How can I best counteract sensitivity being exchanged for sensuality?