a storm's coming

I was already a little jumpy with the high winds and dark clouds overhead, but when the tornado sirens went off I was on full alert. Looking behind me the sky looked like something from a Stephen King novel: Something bad’s going to happen. And soon.

Now walking as fast as I could, I kept checking over my shoulder to make sure no funnel clouds were approaching. When I wasn’t concerned about being surprised from behind I was scanning the side of the road looking for good places to hide in case Dorothy and her tornado came calling.

As I finally approached my driveway it occurred to me I was no longer on edge. Oh, sure, the sirens were still wailing, but I had gotten to the point where I had tuned them out. After several minutes of fruitlessly scanning the sky for danger, I had apparently concluded—unconsciously—that nothing bad was going to happen.

The sirens could continue spewing warnings all day long, but I was at the point where I wasn’t paying attention to them anymore. It was just background noise now. Crisis over.

Unfortunately, the exact same thing can happen when it comes to our consciences. If we’re not careful, we can essentially disable what God has designed as a warning device for sin.1

In fact, the Bible records real-life examples of some people who ignore their consciences so much that bad things eventually happen. Really bad things.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”2

These false teachers have ignored their consciences so much by teaching lies that they eventually become “seared as with a hot iron.” That is, they've been disabled or dulled so that they're essentially useless. Gradually, over time, God’s warning device for sin has been rendered useless.

Now let’s see if we can make this concept a little more understandable through a fictitious situation.

Let’s pretend for a minute that a man decides to  have sex with someone who’s not his spouse. He knows it’s wrong, but does it anyway. Not surprisingly his conscience bothers him, maybe even a lot.

But the man enjoys the experience and decides to do it again. Once again, his conscience bothers him, but this time not as much. And if he decides to indulge a third time, his conscience bothers him even less.

You get the idea.

If we’re not careful, over time our God-given warning devices for sin become nothing but background noise. Just as I eventually got to the point where I didn’t pay any attention to the tornado sirens, we can get to the point where we totally ignore our consciences.  

In other words, what used to be wrong is no longer wrong. After all, our consciences aren't bugging us anymore.

And by ignoring our consciences we put ourselves in a very dangerous position spiritually. Just ask the guys mentioned in the verses above.

So have you been doing something that you know is wrong in the eyes of God? If so, I’m betting your conscience bothered you in the beginning. But think about it: Do you fret over it much anymore? If you had regrets at first, have they largely faded to the background?

If any of this seems familiar, you need to face reality: What you’re doing is sinful and, over time, you’ve become immune to the fact that what you're doing is wrong. You’ve seared your conscience as with a hot iron.

Don’t look now, but there’s a storm coming.

1  Romans 2:14-15

2  1 Timothy 4:1-2