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 To
feel bad about doing bad is bad, but it is far worse when you
don't. In fact, when a man no longer feels regret or guilt for
his wrongdoing, he has reached the very bottom of the barrel of
moral degradation. Such are those described by the apostle Paul
in Eph. 4:18,19. He says they have become "alienated from
the life of God, because of the hardening of their
heart..." — a condition resulting in their being
"past feeling". This is the final and worst state of
wickedness to which mortals can fall. It is the ultimate in
moral bankruptcy. To be "past feeling" is to be dead
to all that is good and decent and uplifting. It is to be so
dominated by sin as to lose all sense of shame and to live
without regard for the consequences of evil, either to self or
to others. But men do not sink to such depths overnight.
Today's
most calloused conscience was once, many, many sins ago, a
tender and sensitive moral alarm. Back then, its warnings were
felt with disturbing uneasiness — even if unheeded. But,
repeatedly ignored and suppressed, its pangs gradually
diminished to the point of being barely bothersome. Then,
finally, it becomes incapable of being aroused even by the
vilest deed. It is past feeling; it is dead. Having come to this
state of miserable wretchedness, men give themselves up to
lasciviousness, "to work all uncleanness with
greediness" (Eph. 4:19). And, if I mistake not the lesson
of Rom. 1, this is where God gives them up to what they
themselves are determined to have. (v.24,26,28). What else
remains for those who refuse to know God and heed
conscience?
So,
if you can still feel bad when you do
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bad, that's good — but it's better, of
course, to refrain from what offends the conscience to begin
with. Not that conscience is the standard of right, but when
properly enlightened by the word of God it becomes a reliable
guide and a strong ally. Any conscience should be heeded, but
the truth-set and God-oriented conscience gives a new dimension
to morality. Wrongdoing brings sorrow and regret even to the
non-Christian who violates a tender conscience — but it does
not bring godly sorrow, and there is a vast
difference. Only godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation (2
Cor. 7:10). So, the Christian not only feels bad about doing
bad, he feels bad for the right reason — because he knows he
has sinned against God! It seems to me this is the
"conscience toward God" mentioned in 1 Pet. 2:19;
3:21. Without such a conscience there can be no genuine
repentance and, consequently, no salvation. The correlation
between repentance and maintaining a tender conscience is
obvious. When godly sorrow works repentance, it produces the
change of mind and conduct that puts man right with both God and
conscience — and, thereby, preserves its effectiveness.
So,
feeling bad about doing bad can be beneficial, if we
will allow it. The question is not whether
we will do bad (sin) — or even whether we will feel bad
(sorrow), but rather whether our sorrow will be of the
"godly sort" (2 Cor. 7:11). Realization that we
"have sinned against heaven" will ever bring us back
home to the Father as it did the prodigal. This is hurt that
helps. Dan S. Shipley
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