I vividly remember the first dead body I encountered as a young deputy. My partner and I responded to a missing person call, only to find the old man deceased in his backyard. Though the experience unnerved me, the older, veteran officer was unfazed. As we waited for the coroner to arrive, my partner laughed at his own crude jokes. What sort of callous degenerate am I riding with? I thought.

Fast forward 35 years. My coworkers and I responded to a grisly crime scene. Inside a house, we find the bodies of an entire family. The murder/suicide remains one of the worst tragedies we’ve investigated. Yet, what bothered us most was that it didn’t bother us at all. We tried hard to feel, but feelings didn’t come. What kind of callous degenerate have I become? I thought. A young medic, however, wept on the front porch. The sight was too much for her. Give it a few years, I thought. Enough exposure to stuff like this will harden your heart as well.

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

One of the truest evidences of conversion in Christ is a heightened sensitivity to sin. Feelings of conviction and guilt accompany things that once didn’t bother us. We find that we can no longer live as we once did. God’s indwelling Spirit exposes the evil in what once attracted us. God fills the void that once fueled sinful craving.

While modern culture becomes increasingly tolerant of evil, the Bible instructs us to guard our hearts. Hebrews 3:13 says, “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” The same new heart that results in awareness of sin also makes us sensitive to His Spirit. That’s too important to lose through sinful compromise.

“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.” (Hosea 10:12)