“Now the purpose of the
commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere
faith.”—1 Timothy 1:5
Perhaps you have asked someone a
question and their response was, “Let
your conscience be your guide.” Although
in the English language this is a well-known expression, it is not necessarily good advice. The reason why is because your “moral compass”
is only as reliable as the principles with which you have programmed it. If you store up proper biblical instruction
and training, it will be dependable to help safeguard you through life. But using false ideologies from popular
culture to program your conscience will set you up for moral failure.
God has given each person a
conscience as a gift intended to be a tool of the Holy Spirit who is our true
Guide. And as such, it is designed to
protect you from going astray. You can
trust it only when the following seven statements are true of you.
1.
Jesus
Christ is your Savior and Lord.
2.
The
Bible is the basis for your conduct.
3.
You
have a strong desire to obey God.
4.
You
make decisions prayerfully.
5.
Your
conscience sounds the alarm when you consider a wrong direction in thought or
action.
6.
You
feel guilty when you disobey.
7.
You
feel compelled to repent of your disobedience.
A trustworthy conscience reacts
immediately to disobedience. There is no
making excuses and no waffling over whether or not something may have been
wrong.
To develop a reliable conscience,
read and apply scripture so that God’s principles will override any prior bad
programming. Then, under the Holy Spirit’s
guidance, it will sound protective alerts.
Do not put faith on your conscience alone, but trust God to make it an
effective tool for leading you.
Prayer—Father
I thank You that You have given me a conscience to help lead me. I ask You to help train my conscience so that
it becomes refined instrument for the Holy Spirits use, to help lead and guide
me, in Jesus Name. Amen.
