One time I was using an electric saw to cut a piece of metal when I grabbed the cord to move it out of the way when I felt a sudden tingle run up my arm all the way up to my shoulder. I quickly let go of the cord knowing what was happening. Somehow the power cord had been cut slightly, and there was a small area of exposed wire that was causing that electricity to run through my arm. Thankfully it wasn’t a more serious accident or I might have been seriously injured. It was my nerves and muscles tightening from that electricity that alerted my brain to the danger that was about to happen, like a warning bell inside of my mind.
Maybe some of you have been cooking something on the kitchen stove and as soon as the food was done you took off that pan or pot and set it onto the counter to cool. Later, without thinking, you grab the metal handles and immediately experienced a burning sensation in your fingertips as you find that the pot or pan had not fully cooled down yet.
God has made our bodies with nerves that tell our brains when there is something that is not safe, that there is something that is going to harm our bodies if we do not take action to avoid or correct it.
Well, God has made something similar for our soul and mind as well, called a conscience. The conscience is the moral sense of what is right and what is wrong. The conscience is a part of a person that is supposed to guide an individual’s actions to do what is right and good, but the Bible teaches us that there will be a time when people will not listen to their conscience.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”
When you sear a piece of meat on the stove, what you are doing is chatting, or burning, the meat. When you grab an extremely hot piece of metal and your hand makes a sizzle sound, you pretty much searing your hand, and if a person doesn’t let go quickly they could permanently damage their nerves in that area and will have no feeling left there.
Paul was teaching Timothy that in the latter times (which I believe to be our current time) that the consciences of people will become seared, that they will not feel any sense of pain or remorse when they sin. Instead of letting go of the cord as I did (meaning to stop sinning), they will continue on in their sin. They will not care if they hurt others. They will not be sorry when they offend God, or are living in a way that is opposite to what the Bible teaches.
Have you ever been shopping in a store when you hear a loud wail from an angry child who has just been told that they cannot have something? Often in my experience I have witnessed that there is little or no way to placate that child. Despite many sharp warnings and rebukes from a parent to stop, that angry child will just not care at that time and moment, but will continue on for several minutes afterwards.
The life of a Christian is to do one thing and one thing only, to love and serve God, and when a person does that, everything else will fall in line after that. When we sin we should not feel proud or feel “nothing,” but we should be convicted inside of our minds of our own mistakes. We should realize that our sins are upsetting to God, and it should cause us to immediately stop, repent, and turn away from and change our lives so that we are pleasing to Him once again.
Our consciences are there for a reason, so the next time you feel that “tingle,” listen to it!
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 