Some time ago, I began to slowly return to my old ways. At first, I found myself plagued by guilt, but as time passed I would ignore God’s conviction. \u00a0For the most part, I didn’t sin very much. but I struggled with lust every now and then. I still tried to live by God’s commandments and had a desire to continue being in Him, but it wasn’t like before. I began to really see how much lust was affecting me by searing my conscience. I acknowledge it the same way I did when I was first appalled by it and I know I have not fallen very far to the point where I don’t want to live for God. I still love God and everything, but I know my conscience has been seared. I think about this daily, and I always feel something in my head that I don’t know how to describe, but it clouds my mind. It really bothers me, and I truly do want to live for God. I am aware of what’s at stake and I want to escape this ditch. What can I do to regain\/repair my conscience? Can this be done by sincerely repenting, denying myself, reading His Word, and fasting?<\/p>\n\t
One obvious step is that you have to stop wounding yourself before you can heal. This means you have to choose not to indulge your lust simply because you know it is wrong. You cannot let your desires drive your decisions. “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren<\/em>” (James 1:14-16).<\/p>\n A second point is that it took time to sear your conscience; therefore, it is going to take time to recover from the wound. It is going to require persistence on your part. “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm<\/em>” (Ephesians 6:13).<\/p>\n Finally, wounds heal better when a medicine is applied. “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?<\/em>” (Jeremiah 8:22). Therefore, you need to start replacing your sinful habits with righteous behavior. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts<\/em>” (Romans 13:14).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Some time ago, I began to slowly return to my old ways. At first, I found myself plagued by guilt, but as time passed I would ignore God’s conviction. \u00a0For the most part, I didn’t sin very much. but I struggled with lust every now and then. I still tried to live by God’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[810,179],"class_list":["post-46688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-conscience","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7487,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-pornographys-draw\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":0},"title":"What is pornography’s draw?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I don't know if this was already explained, but why are so many people addicted to pornography? More and more people are engaging in this kind of activities. And the viewers get younger and younger. I highly doubt that there are any benefits of pornography. But why? It's really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/keeping-a-pure-conscience\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":1},"title":"Keeping a Pure Conscience","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sean P. Cavender While standing trial before Felix, the apostle Paul stated that he had strived to live with a pure conscience before God and men (Acts 24:16). This should be the goal of each and every child of God--living life with a pure conscience (I Timothy 1:5,19). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-a-problem-with-controlling-and-avoiding-masturbation\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":2},"title":"I have a problem with controlling and avoiding masturbation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How are you today?\u00a0I am e-mailing you because I have a confession to make as well as an act of sin I like to address. So please bear with me. I am trying to live my life God's way after many years of shunning Him. But I want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9254,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-perform-masturbation-and-petting\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong to perform masturbation and petting?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your sermon about masturbation, but I didn't find a Scripture that says it's wrong. Is it wrong to perform masturbation and petting? Is tongue kissing wrong? I am confused because does it mean that masturbation is a sin? Do you have any elders that you could ask?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62050,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-conscience-as-a-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":4},"title":"The Conscience as a Guide","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 22:22-23:5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Teaching the difference between right and wrong \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Young children have no knowledge of good and evil - Deuteronomy 1:39 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As a result, they are not very concerned with matters of right and wrong. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mom and Dad handle those issues and let you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-conscience\/","url_meta":{"origin":46688,"position":5},"title":"My Conscience","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 4:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Defining your conscience \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A part of every human is an awareness of what he should do in various situations \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Your conscience does not determine what is right or wrong \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That is what judgment is for. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Righteous judgment is done by God\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}