Conscience: May 9, 2014

TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY MAY 9, 2014

CONSCIENCE

DEFINITION:

The inner sense of right and wrong impelling one toward the right action; moral sensitivity.

SCRIPTURE:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. I Peter 3:15-16.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Have you ever been concerned if you can trust your conscience? When one faces decisions in life, many times decisions will be made based on whether one feels that it is right or wrong. Our conscience does give us a sense of right or wrong and it is good to listen to our conscience. As believers we must be especially attentive to our conscience.

Our conscience is God’s warning device he has given us to react to sin. It produces accusation and guilt and guilt is a heavy load to carry. There is only one way to cleanse a guilty conscience that is having a devastating effect on us and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is what the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 9:14. He calls our sins “dead works” because they lead to death. The cleansing blood of Jesus Christ frees us from our guilt of sin and death and gives us life eternal with Him in heaven.

Peter reminds us, in the verse above, that when we speak to others to defend and testify of our faith we must be sure that we can speak with a clear conscience. Non-believers look for every opportunity to point out misconduct in the life of a believer so they can criticize the believer’s faith. That is why every believer must be sure that they are living according to God’s ways and not the sinful ways of the world. Our words will carry no weight with others if the way we live contradicts what we say we believe.

Dr. Charles Stanley recently preached a sermon on the role of our conscience and he called it, “You can trust your conscience if.” We would like to share several of his remarks with you because they are scriptural and excellent for one to follow if one is concerned about knowing they have the Lord’s leading in their life.

The first and foremost requirement that one must meet in order to trust your conscience is that you believe in Jesus and you call Him your Lord and Savior.

Secondly, the Word of God must be the basis of all of your conduct in life. This can only be a reality if you spend time daily not only reading the Bible but applying it to your life.

You can trust your conscience when you daily have made it your strong desire and priority to obey God. As you read God’s Word you will hear God talking to you and He will use your conscience to guide you in obeying God and will warn you when you are not. You need to prayerfully consider all of the decisions you make. Before you act or respond you need to pray.

When your conscience sounds an alarm you need to react immediately. It should not be ignored. You must listen to and react to what you know is right or wrong. When you feel guilty about a decision it is important to reverse your direction fast and get back on track. Your conscience is a warning system and you know it has reacted if you feel guilty.

The final point that Dr. Stanley made is that God uses your conscience to compel you to repent for your disobedience. It is the work of your conscience that leads you to repent. You can trust your conscience to cause you to do what is right.

Study these thoughts and make them part of your life and you will be able to trust your conscience. When you put your faith and trust in the Lord and communicate daily with him, you will be able to walk with the confidence that God will use your conscience to keep you on the path of righteousness.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is the ninth commandment found in Exodus 20:16.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

PRAYER:

Teach me today how to distinguish between right and wrong in my daily life. Help me to be faithful to communicate with You so that You can speak to me through my conscience so I will know Your will in every decision I make.