Proverbs 5:6

“She does not keep straight to the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.”

One of the saddest things in life is ignorance. Even sadder is a seared conscience which is, in effect, a ignorance of morality. Solomon talks about the adulteress here, a woman whose conduct is so depraved that she doesn’t even know (any longer) that what she is doing is wrong. She has so long chosen not to walk the path of life that when her ways wander into sin, she doesn’t even know it.

Sin can become so familiar, so comfortable, that, after awhile, we don’t even give it a second thought. That is a dangerous place for a Christian. When we get to the point that we have ignored the Spirit’s voice so much that we no longer hear, we are in great jeapardy.

Paul warned us about this in 1 Timothy:

“For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (4:3-4 NRSV).

Paul isn’t talking to nonbelievers here, but to us, to Christians. There is a time when we are at risk for turning away from the truth, from turning away from the path of life. And, if we do it enough, in the end, we will not even be aware that we are doing it. It will be so comfortable to us.

Yesterday, at school, I was talking to some of my students and talked about the word “conscience.” Most of them had no idea what I was talking about. It’s so sad because our conscience is very important! It is the barometer which tells us whether or not we are following the right path; it is the inner sense that seeks for the Spirit in all things.

Paul writes:

“By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19b NRSV).

It is possible, as a Christian, to ignore or even reject our conscience. But why would we? It is like an internal traffic light that tells us whether or not we are headed in the right direction. Is it green that we can continue down this path? Or red that we should stop? Or yellow that we should take a second look, a second consideration?

The more we “keep straight to the path of life,” the more we cultivate our conscience, the more we become in tuned to it. Our walk with the Lord becomes more familiar, more comfortable, more easily discerned. However, when we fail to keep to that path, the voice of our conscience becomes more difficult for us to hear. We aren’t used to listening and so often ignore it. Scripture often calls this a hard heart. And our hearts can become so hardened that we come to the point where we don’t even know right from wrong, obedience from sin. If we are to not be, as Paul said, “shipwrecked in the faith,” then we need to begin today to listen to our conscience.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).