LightGrams
September 11, 2025
Volume 29, Number 29
Are there any parents who don’t know about Lego building sets? “Lego” has been around since 1934 and has provided many children with endless opportunities to create imaginative things. The name is a contraction of “leg Godt”, which is Danish for “play well”. But I would also ask, are there any parents who haven’t stepped barefooted on one of these pieces in the middle of the night?
Gabrielle Wall recently set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters barefoot on Lego bricks. I continue to shake my head in unbelief as I read of people doing bizarre things to make their Guinness mark in the world, and Gabrielle’s feat is no exception. Just do an Internet search for her name and you’ll easily find a video chronicling her record run.
Wall took two months to prepare her feet for this run. During that time, she was almost continually barefooted, which caused calluses to develop on the bottom of her feet. Calluses are like scar tissue that develops due to abrasion or friction of the skin. The layers build up without nerve tissue, and so pain is minimal, if present at all. I experienced this as a child; the first few days of spring I would walk gingerly outside until my feet became callused enough to endure the gravels and sticks under them.
My boyish desire to have callused feet was harmless, but there’s another way in which this loss of sensitivity is dangerous. Paul referred to this in 1 Timothy 4:1,2: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” Skin that is “seared with a hot iron” loses sensitivity. For a conscience, that’s not good at all.
In the previous chapter Paul noted a qualification for a man to be appointed as a deacon: “Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9). A pure conscience is sensitive. It will shout “Ouch!” when a person walks into dangerous territory. Like an activated smoke alarm, its purpose is to warn a person to reverse their course as soon as possible. But a conscience that is callused (“seared with a hot iron”) sounds no warning at all.
So what happens to make a pure conscience insensitive? It’s like feet: though the feet tell us to stop walking on painful gravels, we continue to do it anyway. So with the conscience: If I fail to heed the warnings of my conscience and do sinful things regardless, its voice gradually fades into silence.
Here’s the best scenario regarding a conscience: “… I always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men” (Acts 24:16). When I feel the warning it sends, I stop and evaluate where I’m at, where I’m going. If necessary, I reverse my course. That’s how God intends it to be.
Step on Lego blocks barefooted if you must, but always avoid those sharp (sinful) objects that cause pain to our consciences.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2025, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “Tim@GraceMine.org” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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