EPHESIANS 4:18

“being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” 

Unfortunately, I have known a few hard hearted people in my life. They did not care what anyone thought of them. They treated people like dirt. They spurned their nose at God or anything that was Christian. Some of those people I have seen have a change in heart. Others are still living a miserable, sad life of hate and animosity towards others.

Paul uses a word here in verse 18 for “hardness” that is only used in two other places. We’ll see those in a minute. The Greek word is pórósis which means “a covering with a callous, fig. blindness” (Strong’s Concordance). Paul is still warning the Ephesians about the unbelievers that are around them and how they live their lives. He is saying, “Don’t be like them. Their minds are darkened. They are ignorant. They are hard hearted.”

APPLICATION

One commentator said this about being hard hearted, “A man who has a blind and hard heart sees no beauty in truth, and feels not its force, and is insensible to all its appeals.” What a sad picture. In Mark 3:5 we find the same word being used my Mark when he describes Jesus’ healing of the man with the withered hand. “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” The religious leaders did not want this man healed because it was the Sabbath. How cold!

Paul uses pórósis again over in Romans 11:25 describing what happened to Israel. “For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;” The hearts of the Jews were hardened against Christ in order for the gospel message to be delivered to the Gentile world. They had had their opportunity, which they spurned.

How hard is your heart? Do you see others in need and turn away? We can harden our hearts without even realizing it sometimes. We can become so desensitized to the needs around us that we are blinded. We become ignorant of our surroundings. Open your eyes and hearts today and see what the Lord is trying to show you.

Father, keep my heart soft and supple, so I can be used by You.