It is easy to see the darkness creep in. It is harder to admit the reason: We like it that way.
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practise every kind of impurity. Ephesians 4:19
In our greed, we harden our consciences against the pain inflicted both on ourselves and others as we indulge our sensuality and impurity.
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. V18
The callousness of our hearts impacts our spiritual lives. We cannot harden our feelings without creating barriers against the life of God. In our self-justifying hardness we become alienated from God and ignorant of what is really important. We are darkened in our understanding.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. V17
In the end such thinking will be proven futile. We give ourselves to what we enjoy and discover that from an eternal perspective it is nothing.
So, how do we find our way back to God? One way is to listen for the demands of self-indulgence. This exposes where we have hardened our hearts. Then pray for the Lord to give grace to be softened and for his light of life to shine there. Allow him to expose the pain and/or the sensuality that led to the hardness and seek him for his restoration of life.
See also “Encroaching Darkness” blog of October 6th 2015