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Conscience
We've all heard of them. Some of us have even experimented with them ourselves. Self-help and readings that come from the wisdom of men are all too common. Man is always looking for an equation, a step by step process, to fix their problems or better themselves. The truth boils down to this: there is no equation, no step by step process to alleviate all of your error or imperfections. While the wisdom of men is not entirely useless, it cannot provide an answer to our longing for change.
It never fails. Man always falls into the trap of leaving God out of the things that God should certainly be involved in. Now speaking directly to those whom revere the Lord: Do we forget about God? I don't think that's the common reason. Do we fool ourselves into thinking that nothing is wrong and therefor eliminate the need for (in our mind and perspective) God's help? I think this is more likely to be the cause of ignoring a very fundamental and rooted aspect of every human being that God created - the aspect of the conscience.
As it's no doubt crossed your mind, I am writing about the conscience and how it applies to our pursuit of spiritual growth. Now let's go over some verses regarding a human's ability to determine right from wrong:
Romans 2:15 - This verse makes it apparent that we have a conscience. Not only does it exist, but it can be used in dangerous ways. When the conscience is used to excuse our ungodly behavior or choices, it can easily coalesce into a cloud of self-righteous justification. There is also no doubt that the conscience is something that we can mold and modify into whatever we would desire.
Titus 1:15- To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
In Titus 1:15 we read that the minds and the consciences of those who were defiled and unbelieving were also defiled. However, this was not the case for those who were pure. To those who were pure, the mind and conscience were both pure. It's one thing to understand and observe this effect from a personal or scientific perspective. It's another thing entirely, especially for a Christian, to see it mentioned, observed, and cautioned in scripture. God really, really, really, knows how we work. (He did write our code after all).
The conscience is not set in stone, it can change. We are born with a conscience but it's, for the most part, a clean slate. The basic programming exists, such as fundamentals of right and wrong, but the default settings are always intended for the user (the beholder) to change. With this clean set of code and our ability to write any rule set we desire, things can get a little fuzzy...
We can't rely ourselves to make the correct decisions - we inevitably fail. Fortunately, God gave us a script, if you will (sticking with terms analogous to computing). I'm sure you can guess where this is going... The script is the word of God. It is our responsibility as followers of Christ and people of reverence and fear of God, to encode our conscience with the perfect and undefiled script which is the word of God.
Since data contained on every type of storage medium in the world is susceptible to corruption and to being overwritten, it is also our responsibility to ensure our system (namely that of our conscience) contains the correct rule set - the laws and principles of God.
Plainly said when we fill ourselves with pure and holy things, the more we overwrite the impure and unholy - henceforth making our actions, thoughts and speech more in line with what the Lord commands. In contrast, if we fill ourselves with filth there's a saying that fits rather well "You are what you eat".
One more thing, many times we can attempt to create plans to prevent ourselves from acting on what we know is good. This is not to be mistaken with not already knowing the difference between right and wrong - the knowledge of right and wrong does not extinguish temptation for what our flesh will crave. Setting up such plans, ultimately gets very little return. Don't get me wrong, we can certainly make changes in our behavior and place obstacles in our midst to avoid temptation, but the reality is there is ALWAYS a another way to get what you want IF you really want it.
The fact is that the "plan", if you will, is already in place. The issue is we don't want to feel the need to, or forget to use it. The thing I'm writing about here is our conscience. We have all been there. The moment when you are battling making a decision between what you are aware of being the right thing to do and what the fleshly desires want to do. How often have you chosen what you want (an unrighteous want) over what you knew to be right?
I think God's design of man is impressive beyond comparison. The method in which we live and function in this world is completely according to God's design. God gave us a tool to use in the midst of temptation. He gave us a conscience. Let's start listening to "the voice in our head" telling us what is right. Let's stop filling our minds and ultimately our conscience, with the garbage of the world. Let's practice using the tool which God gave us to make the right decisions. And finally, let's start relying more on God rather than ourselves or self-help.
You have a conscience; program it and listen to it. Here are some more scriptures regarding the conscience and making the right choice:
Hebrews 10:22
1 Timothy 1:5,19
1 Timothy 4:1-2
Romans 13:5
1 Peter 3:16
Hebrews 13:18
Hebrews 9:14
Brian Mizell
