| “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith … speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). |
| Yesterday we spoke about our conscience, and how it requires light in order to work properly. Today we are reading about those who have their conscience “seared with a hot iron.” What does this mean? |
| Probably very few of you have ever had a really deep burn on your body, but if you have, it will have healed with scar tissue. That scar tissue does not have much feeling in it; it is not sensitive to touch and pain the way normal skin is. On cattle ranches they sometimes brand cattle with a hot iron, which burns off the hair and leaves a distinctive mark that shows everyone that the animal belongs to a certain rancher. But the area that is branded does not have much feeling on that part of the skin. |
| When the Bible talks about a conscience that is “seared with a hot iron,” it means that the person’s conscience has become like a scar, or a brand; it does not have much feeling in it. If we are reading God’s Word, and walking with the Lord, we will have a tender conscience that will immediately feel it when something comes up that is displeasing to the Lord. But if we get away from the Lord, quit reading our Bible, and stop having a time of prayer every day, then we may develop a seared conscience. Then we are not quite as sensitive to things that are not pleasing to the Lord. We will do things that used to bother our conscience, but now seem all right. |
| It is a good thing to have a tender conscience before the Lord, and to react to temptations and sin according to the light of God’s Word. We must read His Word and walk with Him in order to have this. If we find ourselves getting a seared conscience, let us ask the Lord to help us get back into a walk with Him, and let us confess whatever may have come into our lives that got us into that wrong way of thinking. |
