LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED
Hebrews 3: 12: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in
any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13: But
exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
A hardened conscience is
frightening to think about. When I first
began playing the guitar it hurt my fingers to press the strings to make
chords. But as I practiced callouses
formed on my fingers. In time I could
play for hours without hurting at all. It
is the same with a sinner. The little child’s conscience is tender. He is sickened with remorse at the least
offense against father or mother. But as years pass the more he practices sin the
more his conscience grows harder. It becomes easier to sin and easier to suppress
a guilty conscience. Unless God intervenes in irresistible grace creating in him
a new heart, in time his conscience becomes so calloused that he is incapable
of being disturbed even at the vilest evil. The professing believer who is able
to push aside rebuke he hears in the preaching of the gospel while ignoring his
conscience is hardening his heart. He grows more and more hardened until at
last his unbelief proves that God never created a new heart within him. Knowing this deceitfulness of sin, brethren, let
us continually take heed that we do not harden our hearts at even the least
rebuke we hear in the preaching of the gospel.
At the very first prick of conscience, let us turn to Christ like a little
child and confess our sins, asking Christ to direct our steps and to keep us
from the evil.