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The Searing of the Conscience
Steve Gallagher,
Pure Life Ministries
www.purelifeministries.org
Most people think of hardened criminals and the most duplicitous of men
when speaking of someone with a seared conscience. Yet, I believe many in
the Church today are also in very real danger of this spiritual
phenomenon.
The apostle Paul had a clear understanding of the damaging effects of sin
on the human heart. He spoke insightfully of those who were "seared in
their own
conscience as with a branding iron" (2 Timothy 4:2), and those who
"because of the hardness of their heart [have] become callous" (Ephesians
4:18-19). Both metaphors -- the seared conscience and the hardened,
calloused heart -- describe the same condition.
What is the human conscience? According to Vine's Dictionary, the Greek
word for conscience ("suneidesis") literally means to possess
"co-knowledge" of something resulting in one's "sense of guiltiness before
God." Thus, we were created with
a unique and intrinsic faculty that gives us a kind of third-person
perspective on the rightness and wrongness of our actions.
According to A.W. Tozer, the foundation of the human conscience is "the
secret presence of Christ in the world." To support his conclusions, he
points to John
1:9: "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens
every man." This inward moral awareness is simply the "secret inner voice"
of the Lord "accusing or else excusing him." Tozer very well may be right.
In the physical realm, the conscience is comparable to the human nervous
system. When a person is wounded, he feels pain-- the body's inherent
means of alerting him
that something is wrong. Likewise, when a person sins, the human soul has
a warning system that sounds an alarm because the person's actions have
wounded him spiritually. This soul-alarm trumpets, "Mayday! Mayday!
Something is wrong!" He senses that his actions are not only wrong but
will also result in destructive consequences.
A person with a tender conscience is keenly aware of every infraction
against the Lord. He recognizes sin for the ugly thing that it is. Immoral
deeds, though seemingly insignificant to others, are viewed by him as
monstrous crimes against a holy God. Their importance, while not
exaggerated, is internally magnified so that their true, insidious nature
may be clearly seen.
The person with a soft heart also remains consistently open to the Holy
Spirit's conviction. He is not looking to push the limits of sin -- to see
how much he can get away with -- but to avoid it altogether. Sin, to him,
is a poison which must be eradicated at any cost. The prayer of David
expresses the unseen attitude of such a person: "Search me, O God, and
know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see
if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way"
(Psalm 139:24).
Most people who have experienced a true conversion begin their new life
with this kind of spiritual sensitivity. The "eyes of their hearts" have
been opened to the wonders of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Concern
over the prospect of doing something against
their Savior can actually drive them to run to their pastor over things
that seem ridiculous to more seasoned saints.
Unfortunately, it is often only a matter of time before the "first love"
for Jesus dwindles into religious form. As new converts begin to "learn
the ropes" of Christianity, a slight hardening of the heart takes place.
The deep sense of helplessness that once created such a humble dependence
upon the Lord is gradually replaced with spiritual pride. Bright and
innocent faith is slowly supplanted by cynicism. Eventually, the world's
attractions regain their carnal luster, old idols are re-erected within
the heart, and once-forsaken sins start to resurface.
The Bible describes this process as the "wandering away from" a "good
conscience" (1 Timothy 1:5-6) and the corrupting of the conscience (Titus
1:15). Both describe the same process of inner moral decay that occurs
when a person allows sin to re-establish itself within their heart. If the
person continues along this course, he will soon lose the sense of the
evil nature of sin. A perfect illustration of this truth is the way a
nonsmoker can become accustomed to the smokiest room -- once he has taken
up the cigarette habit himself. Clean lungs detect every whiff of
pollution; dirty lungs have lost that capability.
The person who habitually gives himself over to sin loses the ability to
feel the spiritual "pain" of sin. What happens to people who lose this
sense? Consider lepers who experience a similar thing physically. Having
lost sensation in their extremities, they are
often terribly hurt and can even die because they are unaware of a bodily
injury. In the spiritual realm, this is a picture of the hardening that
takes place inside a person who remains in unrepentant sin. As his heart
becomes increasingly calloused, the spiritual
system God constructed within him slowly loses its ability to detect the
damage being done to it. It's little wonder that Christian men in habitual
sexual sin can sit in church week after week, singing songs of worship to
a God they continually defy. "Hardened
by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13), their entire beings are
riddled with a leprosy of evil which they can no longer even detect!
In such cases, as their conscience undergoes a constant searing, these men
are gradually desensitized to the guilt of sin. If left unabated, this
process will eventually lead to the death of conscience. As one writer
stated it, "Such men must have won that
most disastrous of victories -- the victory over conscience."
What does it mean to have one's conscience seared? To answer that
question, I consulted the godly writers of yesteryear. Adam Clarke
described it thus: "One
cauterized by repeated applications of sin, and resistings of the Holy
Ghost ..." The Fausett Bible Dictionary explained it as " ... a hardened
determination to resist every spiritual impression ...." The Pulpit
Commentary said it is "the gradual deterioration of sensibility produced
by [habitual sin]." John Wesley likened it to "drunkenness of soul,
a fatal numbness of spirit ...."
In summation, if a person remains in sin long enough, he can reach a point
where he is no longer influenced by the Holy Spirit. He has become so
hardened that he will not listen -- does not want to hear. I believe this
phenomenon is that which the Bible terms
apostasy.
How can a man know if he has gone too far? The very concern over such a
possibility reveals the fact that there remains hope for him. Apostates,
having lost all sense of morality, have no concern over such matters.
However, when a man in habitual sin repents -- by acknowledging his guilt
and taking steps to put it behind him -- his hardened heart begins to
soften, and he gradually begins to feel the conviction of sin once again.
Finally, he is back in the place where God can reach him and help him
overcome. As the writer of Hebrews exclaimed, "how much more will the
blood of Christ ... cleanse your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14)
Nobody enjoys the feeling of guilt over wrongdoing. However, the
alternative is to have no feeling: no Holy Ghost conviction, no
discernment of right from wrong, and no sense of shame over the evil
nature of sin. The human conscience truly is a gift from God.
Personally, I plan on treasuring this gift by maintaining a soft heart and
a ready ear for the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rev. Steve Gallagher
(inquire@purelifeministries.org) is the founder and president of Pure
Life Ministries. His wife, Kathy, serves as the administrator of the
ministry. Pure Life Ministries has been leading men into sexual purity
since 1986 through its counseling programs and a vast array of teaching
materials specifically designed to help men. |
