They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart (Eph 4:18).
Heart disease is a killer. The health of that blood-pumping organ in our chest is critical to life. It's the very same when it comes to our spiritual lives. When we suffer heart failure, we're in BIG trouble. Paul tells his buddies in Ephesus that cardiac callouses are fatal. The apostle diagnoses outsiders ("Gentiles") who have failed to follow Jesus as suffering from this condition. "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart" (v18). Hard hearts keep us in the dark. Hard hards keep us from spiritual knowledge. Hard hearts keep us from God.
Cardiac callouses are a killer.
Paul desperately wants his Ephesian friends to keep their hearts tender and soft. Tender to the needs of other believers. Tender to those who haven't come to understand Jesus. Tender to their own sin against God. Let’s be honest, it's VERY easy to develop cardiac callouses if you've had your heart stomped on like a grape. It's our natural reaction to stop putting our feelings and emotions out there to get punched repeatedly. But Jesus asks us to do the same thing He did. There's been no one who walked the earth that has known the rejection and betrayal like the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. Flip back and read what the prophet Isaiah perfectly and painfully predicted what our Savior would experience (Is 53). Despised. Rejected. Wounded. Crushed. Beaten. Stricken. He never fought back. He kept His heart tender and soft. No cardiac callouses for Christ.
One symptom of a cardiac callous is the darkening of our perception of truth. Paul uses the Greek word skotizo, which means to cover with darkness and deprive of light. At it's most basic meaning, this term describes how a heavy shadow blocks light from someone or something. This dark shadow results in a lack of spiritual awareness. Without any light to guide the way, ungodliness and immorality will follow. How bad can this darkness get? Check out what the apostle said to the Romans about it (Rom 1:21-23). Dark hearts lead to idiotic behavior. Instead of worshiping God and His glory, unbelievers elevate His creation to divine status. Without the light of God's Spirit to reveal His truth, we stumble around in the dark (1Cor 2:14).
The development of cardiac callouses also cut us off from THE Source of life. We're "alienated from the life of God" (v18). The word here is apollotrio'o. It means to estrange, separate and make a stranger. Just a couple of chapters ago, the apostle reminded his recipients that they used to be on the outside. Before Jesus used Paul to tell others about who He was and what He's done, they were also separated from God. "Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, call 'the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands--remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated (Gr. apollotrio'o) from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:11-12). But Christ specializes in taking folks like you and me who were far out and pulling us into His kingdom. Without Him, we're on the outside looking in. Our cardiac callouses keep us out.
While our spiritual blindness and separation from God are a big problem, Paul says they are just a symptom of something more severe. "Hardness of heart" (v18). He uses the Greek word porosis, which means a lack of feeling or insensibility. The great Greek doctor Hippocrates used this medical term when diagnosing the covering by a callous or thick growth of skin. It's from a root word that means a kind of stone. Rock-hard hearts. The Pharisees also suffered from these cardiac callouses (Mk 3:5). In the previous verse, Paul first diagnoses unbelievers as having empty minds (Eph 4:17). He continues by recognizing their hard hearts. As a matter of fact, the cause of the rock in their head is due to the rock in their chest.
There's only one cure. There's only one treatment. There's only one hope. Jesus. He's the ONLY one with the ability to heal their rock-hard hearts. That's something God's been promising for a long, long time. "I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put in you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezek 36:26-27). The cure is NOT making our failing organs better. The only answer is a heart transplant. A HUGE part of His saving work in our lives is what seminary braniacs call regeneration. That simply means a divine heart transplant. He makes us new by giving us a new heart. It's the ONLY cure for the cardiac callous.
Has your heart grown hard? Have you gotten callous? To the needs of others? To your own sin? Do you see your sarcasm as a spiritual gift? If so, you probably need to see the Doctor. He's the only one who can cure cardiac callouses!
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