Train your conscience - Part 2
In the past few chapters, we have delved deep into the subject of our conscience. To summarize briefly, we understand that our conscience is placed inside of us by God Himself, it is God’s gift to us, which serves as our internal audit to help us be aware of what is right and wrong. Our conscience we learnt enables us keep our life in order and in accordance with God’s word, so we can stand without fault before God’s judgment seat, which can be referred to as the external audit. We recognized that this conscience is instilled inside all human beings, both believers and non-believers alike. Conscience is also something uniquely gifted only to humans, and not to other animals. For instance an animal which kills another animal or even a man feels no sense of remorse.
We looked further at how the standards of this world are in conflict with God’s standards, and therefore we must constantly shape our conscience to be aligned with God’s word, as the standards of this world is altering according to the whims and fancies of people. If we allow the world’s standards to shape our conscience, we will begin to lead sinful lives that will not please God in any way.
God’s standard versus the world’s standard
In Matthew 5: 27-28 we read, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (NKJV)
The above mentioned verses, which are Jesus’ teachings on adultery refers to two standards. The one which is accepted by the world, as is also mentioned in the Law of Moses is ‘you shall not commit adultery’. However in Matthew 5:28, Jesus however taught another standard which is far higher than what the law demands. According to this standard set by the Lord, if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed the act of adultery with her in his heart.
The Lord warns us that our eyes should be trained to be pure. Many are struggling with the sins of the eyes, because while there is much restriction as to what one can do with their hands and legs, there is no restraint set as to what one can do with their eyes. We will be shocked to know that many of our sins originate from the eyes, but often people justify themselves that the sins they commit with their eyes, like pornography for example affect no one but themselves. Many youth are so addicted to the lust of the eyes, that they are struggling and unable to free themselves from these bondage. The standards of this world is dictating to people, that it is acceptable to be hooked on to obscenity, and the conscience inside of them has been quietened by the voice of the world.
We read in Matthew 6:22, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.”(NKJV)
The eye, Jesus said is the lamp of the body, and that is why what we fill our eyes with, determines what our life is filled with. Only when our eyes behold the good things can our life be filled with light. Everyone irrespective of how old or young they are, man or woman must certainly exercise caution in this area.
In the book of Job we read about Job, a man who had everything and lost it all, his wealth, his family and his health because the Lord chose to allow him to be tested. When the friends of Job joined together in judgement and accused him of wrong doing as the cause for his predicament, this is what Job replied to prove his innocence before the Lord, in Job 31:1, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”(KJV) Job had made a covenant with his eyes to not sin against the Lord with his eyes, and so he was very certain that none of the calamities on his life were a consequence of sin in his life.
Some of us use our eyes so extensively to watch movies, serials and memes on cell phones, and often justify ourselves that this is just harmless entertainment. What happens over a period of time, is that our minds get filled with all the values and standards that are portrayed through the various forms of media. There was a time when people would shy away from looking at anything obscene, but today there are loads of uncensored images that are readily available on our phones and many adults, youth and children too have become enslaved to these indecencies.
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said again, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
The Lord cautions us further that if our eyes are tuned to seeing things that are bad, the light within us will be replaced by darkness and that darkness will be very great. If we don’t make a covenant with our eyes to look only on those things approved by the standards set by God and His word, we will not enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus clearly warned us that the gate and way to eternal life is narrow and only a few will enter it. We must discipline ourselves to be those who keep walking in that narrow path that the Lord has set before us.
In days gone by, adultery was unaccepted, homosexuality was shunned and looked at with disgust by society, but today it has become an acceptable lifestyle to many, including those in the church. If we as those who believe in Jesus don’t take precaution and shape our conscience and teach our children to live by the standards of God’s word, soon a day will come when our children will go astray, and will chose to go the ways of the world.
As parents we must be good examples, and make sure we are watching things that are useful and edifying to us and our children. Lot and his family are an example of how children can deviate from God’s law and standards. As long as Lot was with Abraham, he was in safety, but when he parted from Abraham we find that Lot moved towards Sodom, pitched his tent outside at first, moved into Sodom and later became an elder there. After Lot’s wife died, his daughters did the thing that was detestable in the eyes of the Lord. The reason for this was that their eyes while living in Sodom, was filled with the evil that they beheld all around them, which deviated them from the ways of God.
Every little detail we feed our eyes with are like tiny seeds that are being planted inside of us. If we are constantly viewing the immoral, indecent and obscene, they will over a period of time get accumulated inside of us, and we will end up doing those things we never thought we were capable of doing.
We too like Job must make a covenant with our eyes to only look on those things that please the Lord. In the Old Testament, one of the first things that many kings did when they captured a foe, was to gouge out his eyes. The reason for this gruesome act was that they knew that more than 70% of a man’s strength lies in his eyes. Samson was a strong and mighty warrior, anointed and chosen by God to be a deliverer for God’s people, but when Samson chose to let his eyes wander and lust after many women, he ended up in captivity to the Philistines. The first thing that the Philistines did when they captured Samson, was to gouge out his eyes so as to incapacitate him.
The woman caught in adultery
In John 8:3 we read, “Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,” (NKJV)
Here was a situation where the scribes and Pharisees caught a woman in adultery and brought her to Jesus for judgement. Adultery as we looked at earlier begins with the eyes, and here was a woman who let her eyes go astray, and was now stood condemned.
In John 8:4-5 we read, “they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” (NKJV)
The ones who brought this woman to Jesus were the religious leaders, who were not only well versed with the scriptures, but whose conscience was shaped by the Law of Moses, which made them feel so self-righteous, that it was almost impossible for them to identify their own sins and short comings. They were so caught up with the faults of others that they failed to see the major flaws in their own lives.
Many people are so busy finding fault with everyone around them that they have no time to stop and check their own lives to see where they have failed before God.
The punishment to stone and kill a person may sound so harsh to us, but the reason the Lord dispensed such a crude punishment was because He is a covenant keeping God. Marriage is a covenant, and the Lord expects us to honor the covenant we made to our spouse. God is also zealous about the covenant He has made with each one of us as His children. The blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary He said, is the blood of the new covenant poured out for our redemption and salvation. That is why when we break our covenant to be holy before the Lord, the Lord is deeply grieved because it amounts to being an act of betrayal.The Lord called Israel His son, but when the people of Israel made a golden calf and bowed down to it, the Lord was angered, and punished them only because they broke their covenant with Him.
As the leaders continued to bother Jesus to pass judgement on the woman here’s what Jesus said in John 8:7,“So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (NKJV)
John 8:9, “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” (NKJV)
These religious leaders who could not see any of their own faults were now in a spot as Jesus answered them this way ‘he who is without sin, let him throw the stone at her first’. Suddenly they were all struck in their conscience, as all of their sins loomed large before them, some probably far greater than what the woman had committed. The only difference was that she was caught, while most of them had managed to cover up their sins. No wonder then that all of them walked away from the eldest to the youngest, leaving the woman standing alone before Jesus, for they were smitten in their conscience by the words of Jesus directed to them.
Here’s a word of caution to those who have the habit of constantly finding fault with others, what could happen in the process is that we can become blinded to our own sins and failings. It is only when we concede the word of God to shape our conscience, that we can keep our conscience alive and sensitive to the promptings of God and His Holy Spirit. It is only in heeding to the voice of our conscience constantly, will we become so perceptive to the minutest mistakes in our lives and will be able to set our lives in order. The conscience always convicts us, but if we silence the voice of our conscience deliberately, we will soon find that our conscience will not bother us anymore, which can be a dangerous place to be in.
A little child may get caught when doing wrong only because he or she does not know how to cover up their mistakes, but the older we get the better we become at hiding our mistakes. The reason why the older ones left first was probably because they realized the many grave sins that they had committed.
In John 8: 10-11, we read, “When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”She said, “No one, Lord.”And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (NKJV)
Our God is a God of great love. He was going to the cross for the sins of this woman also, and that is why He out of His great love and mercy pardoned and set her free.
When man sinned and disobeyed God at the Garden of Eden man lost much, but thank God that He still kept the conscience inside of us. The question we need to ask ourselves every day is whether our conscience is shaped by God’s word or by the standards of this world? The word of God and the standards of God are consistent and will never change. Let us spend time with the word and allow our conscience to be shaped by the standard of the word.Our eyes are God’s gift to us so we can behold Him. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (NKJV) which implies that for one to see God the heart must be pure, and for the heart to be pure the eyes must look on those things that are pure. Only a heart that’s pure can truly behold God in all His splendor and holiness.
Pastor F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by Sis. Esther Collins
