James 1:13-15
Avoiding
a Hardened Conscience
We are warned not to allow ourselves to become
hardened, because if we look at the whole concept of hardening in its biblical
perspective, we see that something happens to us through repeated sins. Our
consciences become seared. The more we commit a particular sin, the less
remorse we feel from it. Our hearts are recalcitrant through repeated
disobedience.
When God hardens the heart, all He does is step
away and stop striving with us. For example, the first time I commit a
particular sin, my conscience bothers me. In His grace, God is convicting me of
that evil. God is intruding into my life, trying to persuade me to stop this
wickedness. If He wants to harden me, all He has to do is to stop rebuking me,
stop nudging me, and just give me enough rope to hang myself.
We see in Scripture that when God hardens hearts,
He does not force people to sin; rather, He gives them their freedom to
exercise the evil of their own desires (James 1:13–15).
Coram
deo: Living before the face of God
Pray
this prayer with the psalmist David: "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting"
(Ps. 139:23–24).
Adapted From: You Version Discerning God’s Will
