CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 982

“Morally Calloused”

My conscience is clear …1 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV)

CONSCIENCE refers in general to that human moral awareness that judges an action right or wrong. “Conscience” in the New Testament is the translation of a Greek word that means ‘to know with.’ The etymology of the word is from the Latin and means ‘knowledge within oneself, a moral sense’. This suggests a moral consciousness which compares an action with a standard of behavior for that action.

Our problem today is that our society has substituted God’s absolute standard as defined in His Word with the liberal ‘standard du jour’ that changes to fit the whim of elected officials and appointed judges and is shaped by the pressure of minority factions and the media. Hardly an evening news broadcast goes by without reporting on some tragic human event concerning man’s inhumanity to man. Teens are being tried as adults for sexual assault and for murder. It appears that more and more heinous crimes are being committed by younger children every day.

The so called ‘mature’ video games that recent generations of our youth and young adults have immersed themselves into has worked to callous and warp their moral value system with respect to the sanctity of human life and purity of sexual relationships. Movies using the latest technology have blurred the lines of reality and fiction with ever increasing ‘shock value’ depicting the abuse, torture, rape, and murder of human beings in graphic detail. Constant exposure to such ‘entertainment’ works to further callous an already insensitive heart.

So called ‘mature’ adults have also allowed their consciences to become calloused by going with the flow of compromised societal norms. ‘Everyone does it’ has become the motto of justifying their actions. Seemingly innocuous theft such as taking office supplies for personal use, cheating on taxes, or accepting change for a $20 when paying with a $10 bill has become a ‘normal’ and acceptable practice. Infidelity, divorce, adultery, and same sex marriages are now commonplace, as we have allowed the media to indoctrinate us to a new moral standard.

The truth of the matter is that our society’s human moral awareness, our conscience, has become calloused and insensitive over many years. The process is just like when we first began to walk barefoot at the start of the summer season. Initially, our feet are tender and sensitive and yet by the end of summer, our soles have become sufficiently calloused that we hardly notice the hot pavement or the tiny pebbles that we step on.

In like manner our souls have become insensitive through the moral callousing of our consciences over time as we have allowed the standard of God’s Word to be replaced with the corrupt societal standards as well as watered down to be more politically correct and acceptable.

How sensitive is your conscience? Is it truly clear when compared to the standard of God’s Word? Or is it so calloused that it is unfeeling and you only think it is clear? Don’t let yourself feel only the extreme moral transgressions. Ask the Lord to make you sensitive to His standard, to the whole Word of truth. Allow the oil of God’s Holy Spirit to penetrate deeply and soften the areas that have become calloused through moral compromise. Let Him truly provide you with a clear conscience through Jesus Christ.