Hopelessness is the death of Conscience!
The Biblical dictionary King James Version defines conscience as “the inner moral sense, a faculty of the soul that serves as a witness or judge, distinguishing between right and wrong in one’s actions and motives, leading to feelings of guilt or excuse (like a “clear conscience”).”
Conscience is the part of the mind which separates good from bad, the wrong and right. It is what we acknowledge the good and evil, whilst virtue and good deed bestowing us peace and calamity whereas anxiety, distress in the time of sinfully and defiant of the law. “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” (John 8:9) ) Patristic Fathers describes conscience as “a true judge that God created inside a human mind.” Brethren, our today’s message is not to inform you about the definition of conscience, but to make you realize the death of conscience that hopelessness brings in your life.
The existence of hope lives in Christian’s life as the word God affirms, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:1-4) Hope is the source of our faith. And the base of or foundation of hope is God. The Apostle Saint Paul in his epistle to the Romans said, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
Man can live without eating or drinking for some days. At the same time, could stay alive without air for few minutes. But, if anyone losses hope, it is likely to die within seconds. We live on this vain world in our earthy life hoping to pass all the predicaments and in seeing better future, eager to see tomorrow.
The Apostle Saint Paul in the epistle to his disciple Timothy describes about the death of conscience alike this; “having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” (1 Timothy 1:19) If a sheep travels without a captain, its destiny is to sink and vanish.
When humans lose hope, they get concisely blind; in return seize to observe things and lose their humanity. Man becomes like animals by the defiant of God’s law. As an outcome of their unlawful decisions and actions, their earthly life gets darkened and leans into being eternally dragged in hell fire with the devil at the end of time after God’s Judgment. All this occurs due to lack of faith. If there is no faith, there can never be hope. And hopelessness results in bad conscience. So it reaches to infidelity rather than righteousness; dies instead being alive.
A Christian in faith of the light beyond the dark, the greenery behind the hill, the contentment ahead the grief, peace and tranquility after the storm and wind, life after resurrection of the dead, will likely bare all the trail, be it migration, hunger or thrust and all suffering patiently, in the hope of tomorrow; since, the hope in God is true but not veil. It is not just our eagerness and desire but patronage and confidence. The Prophet Habakkuk regarding said, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls.” (Habakkuk 3:17)
Those, whose faith relies on God, their hope in nourishment, before concisely dying, have received their desire. They have emerged from the chasm they fell, the abyss they sank into. The brave ones have passed all the predicaments, faced within their path, overcoming the darkness surrounding and descending upon them. Absconding the death of conscience, diligent by the hope frequently threatened in their trek, reached their destiny finding what they craved for. As it is written in the Holy Bible, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.” (Psalm 145:15); “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.” (2 Corinthians 4:8)
The Israeli during their exodus from Egypt to their homeland Jerusalem, by the leading of Prophet Mosses, whilst facing trial between the Eritrean sea in-front and the soldiers of Pharaoh from behind, entirely lost hope and even inquired for their return to their slavery in Egypt. They also murmured saying it was better if they had died in the dessert. Then, the Prophet Mosses told them “do not Fear; stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.” (Exodus 14:13)
Then, the miracle that is foretold throughout the human history occurred. The Bible sates it as; “And the Lord said to Moses, Wherefore cries thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift you up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fight for them against the Egyptians.And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.” (Exodus 14:15-31)
The history of Church is a witness to the saints and martyrs who devoid of hopelessness, by mysteriously writing spiritual messages in code, have conveyed Christianity for the next generation by passing all the suffering, pouring out their blood and flesh being a shed. They shined where assumed vanished and risen whilst announced dead.
Christianity is not just what we have faith on during contentment but also it is what we reveal in time of trial. Therefore, in performing this, it is better to be preserved from conscience death. To be protected from it, we need to have faith, hope and love.
The Samaria story is another example; “Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’” So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.
Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.
So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, “Let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry; therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.’ ”
And one of his servants answered and said, “Please, let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; or indeed, I say, they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed; so let us send them and see.” Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a sea of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two seas of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.
Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. But the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seas of barley for a shekel, and a sea of fine flour for a shekel, shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria.”
Then that officer had answered the man of God, and said, “Now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.” (2 Kings 7:1-20)
This story shows us the value of having hope. The people received God’s mercy whilst the King did not, since he died consciously. Sometimes when things get complicated, we tend to assume and think of losing our assets and lose hope. Foremost, we died consciously. But God can do everything in His power. The Bible affirms as, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.” (1 Samuel 3:18) God changed the people’s stories through the four leprous, resented and neglected public by defeating their enemies. If we have faith in God and abide His law, we will be able to do everything without losing hope.
May the Lord’s benevolence be with us; Amen!