Why aren’t all believers? Why do they not at least live
according to the dictates of their conscience? The simple answer is that we
follow the dictate of our heart’s desires rather than our mind, as Jesus had
taught:
·
John 3:19–20 “And this is the judgment:
the light [of truth] has come into the world, and people loved the darkness
rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does
wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works
should be exposed.”
However, some believe that we do wrong because of ignorance.
If this is so, then moral education is the answer. While ignorance is a
problem, it isn’t the fundamental problem. Instead, it is the desires of our
heart. We know that what we are doing is wrong but harden our conscience:
·
Ephesians 4:17–18 Now this I say and
testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to
their hardness of heart.
Consequently, ignorance is the result of hardening our
conscience against the light of truth and the guilt of our ways. Consequently,
Israel had hardened their conscience against the many prophets God had sent to
them so that they might confess their sins to God. However, they consistently
refused in favor of the desires of their heart:
·
Jeremiah 2:17, 25 “Have you not brought
this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?...But
you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners [and their ways], and
after them I will go.’”
What they loved condemned them. They were not open to reason
and facing the consequences of their rebellion against their God who had
delivered them from their suffering as slaves in Egypt. Instead, they refused
to change and chose their present joys over any promise of future blessedness.
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