What is the “Spirit” within us?
The “spirit” is God’s essence inside each of us, and it is the life force that we all feel. This spirit is our own “spark of life” that we hold onto, and that we will not want to lose. If we look at the Bible, it says:
1 The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person (Zechariah 12:1)[1]
7b and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7b)
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24)
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
Within our lives, the Godly spirit is the innermost part of a person that allows us to connect with God. It is considered the “breath of life” given to us. We live our lives with this spirit within us, and when we die, it is said to return to God. The Bible talks about the spirit as the source of spiritual ideals and is the part of a person capable of receiving God’s wisdom and revelation. This is our spirit. This is what God has given us so that we are “full of life” and spirit-filled. This is who we are.
What is Spiritual Blindness?
Spiritual blindness describes the condition of not perceiving what God is doing, desiring, or revealing to us. This blindness can come from having a “hardened heart”. In our “hardened hearts,” we find an attitude of pride, resistance to God’s word, or indifference toward God’s spirit. When we are spiritually blind, we focus mostly on what is physical around us, what is tangibly “real,” while ignoring the unseen spiritual reality God calls us to see, or at least to recognize.
Spiritual blindness keeps us from seeing God’s work in our lives, in others, and even within ourselves. It is not only something that happens to others; we all can fall into it when we resist God’s truth or cling to our own way.
If we look at Matthew, or even in Isaiah, it will tell us the same thing. In Matthew, it says:
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ (Matthew 13:15)
Here, in Matthew, we read that the people don’t really want to hear what God is telling them. Why? The people had calloused hearts. What does calloused hearts mean to us? It means that their hearts were as hard as stone, as rigid as granite. Their hearts were not open to the news that Jesus was bringing to them, and therefore, it was hard for the people to understand what Jesus was trying to tell them. This is what a hardened heart means for each of us. If we look at Isaiah, he says the same thing:
9 He said, “Go and tell this people: (this is an angel talking to Isaiah.)
“You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)
Here we need to understand what spiritual blindness means to us, and do we even have it. If we are blind, then how can we ever know what God is doing, desiring, or revealing to us?
How Does Spiritual Blindness Happen?
As we look at the New Testament, the Pharisees had several issues with Jesus. Why? Because the Pharisees were Spiritually Blind. They thought that their way was sufficient for heaven. Or to say, they, the Pharisees, thought that they understood what the Old Testament principles were for a good life and an afterlife, if there was one. If you looked at their way, they used the Law[2] of Moses (or the “Law”) and the understanding of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). Within this culture, there was a very believable thought that the rules would be consistent and correct to help them get into the afterlife (heaven). Because of their Blindness, they didn’t see what God wanted them to see. What most of the Pharisees saw was the world around them. Jesus was sent here to help, to help explain God’s love, mercy, and grace, and through this, to remove the Blindness of people. The Pharisees adhered strictly to legalism, often missing the spirit of the Law. They focused on the external observance of religious rules, such as those surrounding the Sabbath, without understanding the compassion and mercy that God calls for.
As we look at the New Testament, we see in Mark where Jesus healed a man’s hand. Let us read:
1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (Mark 3:1-5)
The man’s hand was contorted and immovable when he came into the synagogue, but with some help, his hand turned from contorted back to fully functional. Now, in this scripture, we want to pay attention to the words “stubborn hearts”. It was the way of the Pharisees to have stubborn hearts, and Jesus was trying to tell them not to have them. Why? When a person has a stubborn heart, they cannot see what God is telling them. If we look at Mark, Jesus asked a question:
As Jesus is asking the question, I think it is fair for us to answer it. So, what do you think?
4Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. (Mark 3:4)
“Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” (Part of Mark 3:4)
Now, these are some of the issues:
1) The Sabbath is a separate holiday for weekly expression to God of our holiness,
2) The Law does not say you can “do good or evil on the Sabbath”,
3) The law is prevalent in the lives of the Pharisees.
In the Law, the commandment about the Sabbath never forbids doing good; it forbids work that burdens, exploits, or distracts from rest and holiness. Jesus’ teaching is built on principles already in the Law, even though the Law doesn’t use the exact sentence “do good on the Sabbath.” The Law does not forbid mercy, saving life, or acts of compassion.
Within the Law of Moses, the Sabbath commandment forbids ordinary labor but never prohibits acts of mercy, compassion, or saving life. While the Torah does not use the exact phrase “do good on the Sabbath,” it establishes principles that require goodness at all times. Commands such as helping a fallen animal (Law 497[3], Deuteronomy 22:4[4]), not standing idly by when a life is in danger (Law 19[5], Leviticus 19:16[6]), and showing generosity to those in need (Law 251[7], Deuteronomy 15:7–11[8]) all apply even on the Sabbath. The Law also shows that priests work in the temple on the Sabbath (Law 380[9], Numbers 28:9–10[10]), proving that acts of service and mercy are never forbidden. For this reason, Jesus can say that it is lawful to “do good or evil on the Sabbath”, because the Law itself teaches that compassion and life-giving actions always stand above formal Sabbath rest.
From the description above, we can see that Jesus was correct, that we can do good or evil on the Sabbath. But the Pharisees remained silent. Why? There were edicts from Jerusalem (edicts were legal documents about what acts Jews could do within the culture, but an edict is not as binding as the Law) that talked about what Jesus was doing and the problems that He was causing. Therefore, they were quiet, because they didn’t want to “step” on an edict. If you read the Law, it does not say “you cannot heal on the Sabbath,” which Jesus was doing. This is a falsehood that the Pharisees were saying (at the time), because they wanted people to “rest” on the Sabbath, and not to do “work.” But Jesus was more than a Pharisee, and wanted people to understand what God was asking them to do and to see. The Pharisees would not have anything to do with Him, so they confronted Him, and this did not go all that well.
Another way to say stubborn hearts, is to say the “hardening of their hearts”. As the Pharisees were angry at Jesus, because He helped this man during the Sabbath, but they also didn’t see the obvious solution of the man himself. He didn’t want to have a contorted hand and wanted to be free of it. This is the “hardening of their hearts” within the Pharisees, who wanted the rules to reflect their way of life. The fact that a man’s hand was cured of it, contorted ailments, was immaterial to them.
In order to understand spiritual blindness, in ourselves or in someone else, there are a few things that we need to know. If we understand what sin is, that would help. But in addition to what sin is and what it can do to us, there is also the “hardening of their hearts”, which includes self-righteousness and pride. As we look at spiritual blindness, there is also the rejection of the truth of God and the influence of the world around us. As we look at these things, it is the “hardening of their hearts” that matters the most. If our hearts are really hard, so that nothing else can get into us, or should I say, into our hearts, then nothing can hurt us. On the other hand, if nothing can hurt us, then nothing can help us either. If you look at the world, the issue of our hearts is very real, and the “hardening of their hearts” is one of the real problems today.
In the review of the man’s hand, we see the Pharisees frustrated with Jesus not understanding their principles of Sabbath and the ideals of wanting people to “rest” and not to do “work” on the Sabbath. But they would not give Mercy, or Compassion either. This is what really frustrated Jesus. Without Compassion, without Mercy, we could say, without Grace, how can somebody understand what’s happening in the world without these things in their hearts? In Christianity, we call this Grace. Grace is one of the key components of faith that Christ brought to us. It’s not about the Law that the Pharisees used to protect themselves. Or I may say that the Pharisees used to project their faith forward. It’s about how legalism and the Law apply to our lives, and what does that mean for each individual person. This is why Christ always went to the Bible so others could see His point of view.
What is the “hardening of their hearts”?
Do you ever have doubt about a direction or a goal? Or, do you doubt the direction someone is taking? Self-doubt is a big part of having a hard heart. Do you ever have anxiety? Sometimes, when we start thinking of new directions or a goal in our lives, it is our stomach that is gurgling, or our nerves aren’t quite right for a decision we’re making. Anxiety can be there with all of us.
Are you afraid of a decision that you are making, or are you afraid that a person you like, or love, will make a bad decision? Decision-making is one of the things that will affect our hearts in lots of ways. It is not always the decision we are making; however, making a “bad” decision could be part of it. It is the time for the decision to unwind in everyone else’s mind that we are worried about. It is the “worried about” that impacts us in many ways, and the impact of “worried about” starts us growing a hard heart for this decision, and others.
This anxiety about “choices” that we all have, and the decision that we all have to make, will start us down the route of having a hardened heart. Let us say, if your heart were open, and you would feel what others will feel in your heart, and you would feel all of the issues that surround a problem, then it could hurt your heart if you cannot find an answer. If this happens, you will start to have a hardened heart. It is hardened because of the anxiety you feel about the decisions being made.
At times, we also need to hurt others. This is not wanted. But there are lots of reasons for us to hurt others in our personal lives and in business. We have to hurt others in order to help them or to get what we want. How they feel about getting hurt by us and what our relationship with them is, can bring into question what this means. Hurting another person means that we don’t want to be hurt ourselves. We want to help people and not fight with them, but this is not always possible. Hurting anyone means that we will be hurting ourselves as well, and hurting others means that we are growing a hardened heart for hurting others.
A hardened heart is not simply given to us; it is grown within us, and it is grown from the issues of our lives. It is grown one issue at a time, sometimes quickly, and other times slowly, but it is grown for all of us. An example of our hardened hearts would be a decision that we make. If we look at Ephesians, chapter 4, it talks about understanding of sensuality and greed. Let us read this: (In this text, Paul is talking to the church of Ephesians.)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 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. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. (Ephesians 4:17-19)
Here, Paul is telling the church of Ephesians that God’s glory is held in doing things correctly. What does “correctly” mean in this context? We know that through grace that all of us are saved, and that through the “work” He gives us, we help our God with the ideas that He needs us to work on, and we do this “work” in full submission to who He is. As you read the text above, people are interested in “sensuality”. This means that people wanted more sin in their lives, having lost all sensitivity, these people want to have as much fun as they want.
In God’s world, you can have all the fun you want, but you must have fun correctly. What does “correctly” mean? If we look at the people of Ephesians, they were looking for “sensuality,” but had lost all sensitivity to what they were doing. What does this mean? They want “reproductive excitement” without remorse. This is not what God had intended for humanity.
As an example, I am a married man, and I have been married for 40+ years. Yes, my lovely wife and I are one, but at times we have fights, and sometimes it can be hard. But I love her more than I can talk about, and I am hers, and she is mine (if you can’t understand this, go ask someone you know well who has been married for 20 years). If we used the Bible, it tells us that marriage is a devotion of Love between a man and a woman. As we look in Proverbs, it says:
18 May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be intoxicated with her love. (Proverbs 5:18-19)
And, yes, this is true (this is talking to the man in this relationship), but understand what it is saying. You are blessed, and God wants you to have a mate. And with this mate, you can have meaningful sex. And sex is blessed, but it must be done when you are married. What does “married” mean? In our society, “married” means that we have one person that we are permanently attached to, always (God does not see divorce as an option for anyone). As we are married, I am hers, and she is mine.
This is where people have a difficult time with sex in their teenage years (before they get married). At times, we find someone we “love”, and then we don’t. If we made ‘love’ to this person, then we would have the sin that we are ashamed of. If there are no children, then you need to repent for your sin and try never to do this again. If there are children, then you need to consider the “hardness of your heart” and what you will do about it.
But this is what Paul wanted us to see in ourselves, and in our society. Yes, we have issues, tons of them! But God doesn’t hate us! He loves us! And, so, we need to understand what He would do with this situation. It is not that we are interested in “sensuality” or that we have lost all sensitivity; we are trying to “do the right thing.” If we are saying “No!”, then our “hardness of your heart” is real, and we may be heading in a bad direction. But if we keep our heads and have feelings within our hearts, then we can move forward in God’s sight, and with the situation in hand, our God wants us to see and understand what He has put in the world for us, because we are not blind.
As Paul is offering to the Gentiles in Ephesians, Paul is also worried about greed. What do you think greed will give us? Greed and selfishness are often huge contributors to human conflicts, leading to lust, envy, fighting, and quarreling. This is everything that Paul has turned us away from. This is what we don’t want. Here, Paul is telling us that we should do this right, always. By the way, guilt and malice are a part of the Void that we see within the Darkness.
What do we do with Pride?
One of the real issues is having a hardened heart, pride, and self-righteousness with what we believe in. And although we talked about the concerns about hurting others in our confidence with emotions within ourselves, pride is one of the worst things that causes us to have a hardened heart. Pride in ourselves means that we don’t believe what others think, and when they think this, we believe they’re not thinking straight. Pride is the worst part of having a hardened heart. In pride, we can feel that others are wrong compared to our point of view (isn’t this close to the void we found in the darkness?). Pride means that we will never accept what anybody else says, because our own thinking is, “we are better than they are,” and therefore, we will always win.
How do you combat pride? To combat pride, we focus on cultivating humility through practices like practicing gratitude, serving others, and acknowledging our imperfections. But now I need to ask you, is this not pride “correcting itself”, and thus feeling better about itself because it is still pride?! Pride is not something that we can easily combat. Pride is something that is difficult for anybody to grasp, to understand, to experience, and to overcome. Pride is the worst thing in the world for anybody to feel.[11] Pride is what kept the Pharisees from accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Pride is the number 1 thing that causes us to have a hardened heart.
And what did Isaiah say:
9 He said, “Go and tell this people: (this is an angel talking to Isaiah.)
“You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)
This is pride. Hearing, but still not able to understand. Seeing, but never perceiving. This is pride, and we don’t want to grasp a hardened heart. Remember, a hardened heart is not simply given to us; it is grown within us, and it is grown from the issues of our lives.
How do we get rid of our hardened hearts?
As we look into the Book of Revelation, we see,
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)
What is Jesus telling us? Here, Jesus is knocking on a door, but this door is a one-way door that does not have a handle on the outside. This door can only be opened from the inside. “I stand at the door and knock.” This is a piece of artwork done by William Holman Hunt. Here, in this picture, the door is closed, and it is shrouded by stone. There is no way in, except through the door, and it can only be opened by the person on the inside.
Who is this person? This person is us! Only we can open the door and let Jesus into our lives, and if we do, then He will help us with our hardened hearts, as well as with our pride. This is the answer. If you don’t see this in your life now, then pray about it, and see. Christ is tough (asking a lot) of the people that He loves, but easy on the fool. Don’t be a fool. Live in this world, and love who you are.
What do we do to see the Light?
Pride, hurting others, and the issues we have with our emotions cause us to have hardened hearts. If we didn’t have hardened hearts, we would be able to see the light, but with these hardened hearts, it is most difficult to see where we are going.
[1] Within this text, all of the bible quotes (in italics) will be taken from the New International Version (NIV) Bible its copyright
belongs to Biblica and is from Zondervan.
[2] The JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY webpage, © 2025, https://www.jmu.edu/dukehallgallery/exhibitions/2018-2019/the-613-
mitzvot.shtml, This document contains the 613 Jewish commandments (“mitzvot” in Hebrew) extracted from the Old Testament. This
Talmud text (the webpage) will be used in this paper going forward as the “Law”.
[3] JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, 613 Jewish commandments extracted from the Old Testament. From above.
[4] 4 If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.
[5] JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, 613 Jewish commandments extracted from the Old Testament. From above.
[6] 16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.
[7] JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, 613 Jewish commandments (mitzvot in Hebrew) extracted from the Old Testament. From above.
[8] 7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be
hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor
this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy
among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of
sin. 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your
work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be
openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. (Deuteronomy 15:7–11)
[9] JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, 613 Jewish commandments extracted from the Old Testament. From above.
[10] 9 “‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering
of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. 10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the
regular burnt offering and its drink offering. (Numbers 28:9–10)
[11] And yet, here I am giving you “Pride advice”. Please accept this as a discussion, and not a prideful suggestion for all to take.