Scripture Reading
“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. 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 4:18–19 (NIV)
Reflection
There is a kind of pain that doesn’t feel like pain anymore—just silence. Dullness. Disconnection. For many who wrestle with addiction, especially sexual addiction or betrayal, the most dangerous thing is not how much it hurts—but how little it seems to. You stop feeling. And eventually, you stop caring.
Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 are sobering. He’s describing what happens when the heart becomes calloused—not suddenly, but gradually, like spiritual scar tissue. As Tim Keller often said, sin is not just bad behavior; it’s a disordered love. It’s building your identity on something other than God—something that promises life but leaves you emptier than before.
Paul says this kind of life is “separated from the life of God.” It’s not just immoral; it’s disconnected. Isolated. We numb out because we believe the ache inside us is too much to feel. And in doing so, we close ourselves off from the One who can actually meet us in it.
But here is the good news: Jesus didn’t come for the people who feel fine. He came for the numb, the weary, the disconnected. He came for those who can’t cry anymore, who feel too tired to hope, who are ashamed of how far they’ve drifted and unsure how to come back.
Where our hearts have grown hard, He offers mercy that softens. Where our sensitivity has been lost, He restores our capacity to feel again—not just pain, but joy, peace, love. In Him, there is more than just the end of numbing. There is a new beginning: a return to real life, full life, the kind of life that doesn’t require us to escape or hide.
This is not about self-improvement. It’s about resurrection. It’s about letting the Spirit of Christ make alive what has long felt dead. If your heart feels numb today, don’t run from it. Bring it to Jesus, just as it is. He isn’t repelled by your shutdown state. He knows how to awaken what feels unreachable. He’s done it before. He’ll do it again.
Prayer
Jesus,
There are places in me I’ve shut down for so long,
I don’t even remember what it’s like to feel.
I’ve traded connection for control,
sensitivity for survival,
and peace for short-term relief.
But You are gentle.
You don’t shame me for my numbness.
You move toward it with kindness.
Come into these frozen places.
Melt what’s hardened.
Wake up what’s asleep.
And teach me to feel again—
not just pain,
but joy.
Not just sorrow,
but the deep love You’ve had for me all along.
Amen.
Practice
Spend 10–15 minutes journaling or praying through this question:
Where have I stopped feeling?
Where am I using things—porn, screens, work, people—to avoid being with myself and with God?
Now, gently ask this:
What is that numbness trying to protect me from feeling?
What if Jesus could sit with me in that feeling, without rushing to fix it?
Don’t push for answers. Just sit with the questions, trusting that God is already near. You don’t have to feel Him to know He’s with you.
