35. Вернись! Не туда пошел

It happens in this world that a person turns a walking person back and shouts after him: “Do you hear? Come back! I went the wrong way.” So God speaks and cries out to a person in his conscience when he wants to do evil: “Come back, man! That's not where you're going. “Turn away from evil” (Ps. 33:15). Christian! Do you want to take revenge, harm, or, worse, kill your neighbor? God cries after you: “Come back, man!” Do you want to commit fornication and defile your body? God cries to you: “Come back, man!” Do you want to steal, kidnap and take away your neighbor’s property? God thunders in your conscience: “Come back, man!” Do you want to seduce and deceive your neighbor? God cries to you: “Come back, man!” Do you want to slander, condemn, curse and discredit your brother? God brings you back from that and says: “Come back, man! “Retain your tongue from evil” (Ps. 33:14). So God turns you away from other sins and calls you to his conscience: “Come back, man! “Turn away from evil and do good” (Ps. 33:15). And what he says to you in his conscience, he says in his holy word. An infallible conscience and the word of God agree. What the conscience says is the word of God. Whatever conscience holds back and turns away from, that is the word of God. For what conscience condemns, for that is the word of God. And for what conscience praises, for that is the word of God. For example, if your conscience convicts you for stealing, the word of God also convicts you for this. If your conscience praises you for the mercy you have shown to your neighbor, God’s word also praises you. “Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:7). Therefore, when conscience turns us away from something and holds us back, it is the voice of God crying out within us, turning us away and holding us back from evil! Christians! Let us listen to the voice of God and turn away from evil, according to the admonition of the Holy Spirit: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Ps. 95:7-8). And we will call, and the Lord will hear us. You might be interested in: