Blindness and Hardness of Heart

For many people awareness is difficult, because they are unable to see. The reality is much of the time they are blinded by their sin. There is a song that is sung in church, which says, “Open the eyes of my heart Lord.” Sin is blinding and creates blindness. Any sin and in particular sexual immorality is blinding. Unfortunately, this makes the awareness process more difficult.

What does this mean for me?

Interestingly Paul singles out one sin above all other sins as one that is highly destructive to humanity. It is the sin of sexual immorality. He urges and pleads that believers “flee” this sin.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

12 "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh 17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

NIV

This sin against the body is understood as alienation. Sexual immorality alienates the personhood from their body. It becomes a living death. The sexually immoral person becomes incapable of expressing true and sincere intimacy to others. For example, these people may be having sex, but their soul is detached from the experience. They are incapable of being truly intimate. Words can be spoken, but not felt. Actions can be observed, but there is no heart.

Romans chapter 1 tells of a horrific process of utter destruction.

Romans 1:18-32

18 God's anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 19 What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 20 From the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. 21 They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. 24 For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. 25 These people have exchanged God's truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen

26 For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion.

28 And because they thought it was worthless to acknowledge God, God allowed their own immoral minds to control them. So they do these indecent things. 29 Their lives are filled with all kinds of sexual sins, wickedness, and greed. They are mean. They are filled with envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, haughty, arrogant, and boastful. They think up new ways to be cruel. They don't obey their parents, 31 don't have any sense, don't keep promises, and don't show love to their own families or mercy to others. 32 Although they know God's judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do these things but also approve of others who do them.

GW

It is interesting that the end of all this sin is “sexual immorality”. It is not murder or some other

sin it is sexual immorality run rampant.

So what happens? We are created in God’s image and likeness as humans. It is this image and likeness that actually makes us human. We have the ability through sexual relations to create life in the image and likeness of God, and relate in an intimate fashion and to become one flesh with our spouse. Any deviation from God’s prescribed use for sex now becomes highly destructive. So rather than enhancing intimacy it destroys it.

Our sexuality is tied to our ability to be intimate or human. Animals can have sex and procreate, but they cannot be intimate. God has established that sex in the proper and godly context will actually help us. Sex outside of a proper and godly context will destroy us in our humanity. Sex done wrong actually begins the process of dehumanizing us. It not only intimacy but it also destroys our ability to be intimate. Eventually, sex if abused and misused long enough destroys our ability to even have sex. To be unable to be intimate means we are becoming less and less human or less and less in His image and likeness. 

So, what about hardness of heart? Listen to what Jesus tells the disciples?

Mark 16:14

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

NKJV

Now, the question is this. Did the unbelief create the hardness of heart or did they have hardness of heart, which meant that they were unable to believe? Both are true. Hardness of heart makes believing impossible, and not believing creates and demonstrates hardness of heart.

Another important point to catch is the idea that the disciples’ hardness of heart was demonstrated because they refused to believe what others were telling them. Others had observed Jesus, but the disciples had not; so, they refused to believe.

In Romans Paul also declares in the second chapter of Romans that God’s goodness or kindness leads a person to repentance. What are the characteristics of God’s goodness or kindness?

Romans 2:4

Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?

GW

Romans 2:4

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

NIV

For many people to repent or change the way they think and act is because of the fear of hell, or suffering and pain in their life. God will bring pain into a person’s life in order to wake them up out of their slumber and sleep. This is God’s kindness to us.

All too often we think of God’s kindness as blessings, easy, comfort and fun. Not too many people come to God with this sort of lifestyle; so, it brings into question people’s concepts as to what God will do to get people to repent.