I have a question from a friend of mine. He asked me if He is Saved if he sometimes feels no remorse what so ever for sinning even when he knows its wrong. He says the only thing he gets is a “maybe I shouldn’t do this” feeling and that it often goes away. Please help me answer him!!
I’ll answer this assuming that your friend really is saved. The feeling of remorse we get after sinning is called the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If we ignore it long enough, this conviction will grow weaker until we no longer feel it.
This means we will have frustrated God’s effort to help us live lives pleasing to Him. It’s called living a defeated life. It doesn’t mean we’re no longer saved, but it does mean we may have caused our fellowship with Him to be interrupted.
One of the points in the Parable of the Prodigal Son was when he withdrew from his father and went off on his own, he didn’t stop being his father’s son, but he lost the blessings that had been part of the relationship. As soon as he came to his senses and turned back to his father the blessings were restored and it was like he had never been away (Luke 15:11-32).
It’s the same with us. If we stop listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit we will become unable to hear Him, and we’ll be on our own. We won’t lose our salvation but we will lose many of the other benefits of the relationship. A simple act of confession is all it takes to restore us (1 John 1:9). As long as it’s sincere we’ll be restored and it will be like it never happened.