LISTEN TO YOUR CONSCIENCE (GOD’S GIFT)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
(Hebrews 10:24-25)

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son,
in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you,
that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience,
which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan,
so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
1 Timothy 1:18-20

The apostle Paul wanted his young charge Timothy to grasp the basics of keeping the faith.
So he wrote about two men who ignored their conscience at great peril.
Their example shows that without an understanding of what this gift from God is,
we run the risk of capsizing our faith.

Many people mistakenly think of the conscience as God’s voice instead of God’s gift.
We were created with an “inner monitor” that acts as a moral compass for life;
it points to a standard of right and wrong that can guide our decisions.
But the conscience, like everything else in us, is fallen and in need of redemption.
Depending on how it has been programmed, our conscience can nudge us in the wrong direction.

Paul himself is an illustration of this.
His formal education as a Pharisee had taught him
that Christians were a threat to God and the Jewish faith.
His conscience had been programmed to see killing them as service to the Lord.
So he passionately hunted down believers without tripping an alarm on his moral compass.
Only after the risen Christ met him on the way to Damascus
was his conscience transformed and his life altered.

Unless we let the Lord redeem us fully, our decisions can prove as destructive
as if we ignored our “monitoring system” altogether.
By understanding the divine gift of conscience,
we stand a better chance of staying on course and away from trouble.
What’s more, if we submit our conscience to the Holy Spirit,
we will find safe harbor when storms threaten our faith or future.

What is your moral compass telling you to not do?
What is your conscience giving you instructions to do?
According to the statistics, only 17% of believers attend church on a regular basis.
This is alarming as it seems that some have started ignoring their conscience to
obey the Lord’s command in Hebrews 10:25,
“not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”