4-20-06
Once again I am at the cafe. It has been a while since I've been able to come, sit, and ponder. I have had a month full of travel and business so it is nice to get back to "chillin'". I just polished off a cup of Chocolate Almond and I've got my Columbian so now I can start typing.
God has been doing some incredible things lately. I had a chance to go to
I have within me something that is invaluable. It has the ability to make me feel good or bad. It can let me sleep at night or keep me up for hours on end. I have the power to silence it over time or saturate it in things that will make it work as God intended. Conscience, the highest authority that any of us can appeal to here on earth, has been a main topic of contemplation lately after hearing a message by John MacArthur.
I have realized that when people come to me and accuse me of things that I don’t have to convince them of anything so long as I have a clear conscience. My conscience will convict me or will guard me from the accusations of other’s attempts to find me at fault.
OK…I am going to start blabbing not about me but just about conscience in general. I am not sure where this will lead but I am going to start flingin’.
Everyone has a conscience. Sometimes the conscience may be so saturated with garbage that it no longer functions correctly. Here is a brief example of how this could happen.
Let’s say there is a teenager that has grown up in a Christian home. This boy followed the head of his dad and saw some pornography on a Victoria Secret billboard at the mall. This was followed up when the magazine rack at the grocery store checkout caught his eye. He then saw his dad hesitate at a television show that had a beautiful woman on a shower gel commercial. A couple of friends rented an R video and the conscience had already been conditioned to think that this sort of thing was OK, natural for a growing boy, or what becoming a “man” was all about (going back to his dad). Unless something and or someone steps in this young man’s marriage is doomed. It will be impossible with such a messed up conscience for him to know how to treat his wife, what he should expect from her, or how to explain why he is addicted to pornography. He will not see a problem but even if he does then he will see it as “hopeless” because his conscience will be of no help.
Let’s see this same situation through a little different lens. This boy went to the mall and saw a Victoria Secret billboard but averted his eyes as he saw his dad do the same. He remembered that his dad had talked to him about how to treat a woman and how to become a real man. The same response was easy to take at the magazine rack again trying to be a man. His dad never let his eyes rest on another woman whether it was on the TV or anywhere else. This made it easy for the boy to call his dad for a ride when the friends were watching an R rated video before it even started. Do you see how the conscience was bolstered by capital “t” Truth because of his dad? This young man will have a conscience that protects him and his marriage for the rest of his life provided he continues to let it guide him.
So what do we do if our conscience has been messed up? What do we do if our conscience is convicting us or maybe we have tainted the conscience to the point that we aren’t even convicted by our sins? We have to ask God to renew our conscience and teach us what Truth really is. We have to get in God’s Word and seek Truth, spend time hanging out with God in thought and chatting with Him about our messed up lives. This example is only one (prevalent in today’s society) way that our conscience could be leading us away from Truth which is really away from God. God is Truth and if we want to get closer to Him then we must know what He is. We must be able to discern between what is good and what is bad. There is a phrase sometimes said in Church… “God is good” followed by “all the time”. This means that if we want to be close to God then we must ALWAYS be pointed toward what is good. How do we do this? We are saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The Cross allows us to come into God’s presence. We have to allow the grace that Jesus has provided for us to be enough. The problem is without a conscience that is seeking Truth we will be too proud to drop to our knees at the foot of the Cross. I have seen this time and time again. It is easy to say when things are going well… “whenever you are facing temptation run to Jesus”. Sin has a way of making us focus on ourselves and in the moments of temptation we are so focused on self and how important we are that we forget Jesus is waiting for us to want to be saved. The book I am reading “Healing is a Choice” hits this very same concept. We must WANT to heal, be saved, and then be humble enough to ask. Our conscience plays a very crucial role in the temptation not just in being convicted after the fact. Ask God to work in and through your conscience. I would highly recommend you listen to the sermon that John gave as well.
Wow, I almost sounded like a pastor there…I really am just speaking from what God has been teaching me and feeling that I should pass along my “Coffee Contemplations”. I know that I’m speaking from my heart when my coffee isn’t finished. Well I’m sure I’ll be able to ponder again soon. Until then…
