Shape Your Conscience Series

Shape Your Conscience

As each one of us strive to live a life free from every form of enslavement to all kinds of sinful habits, one of the best gift’s the Lord has bestowed on us, to help us experience true freedom from every form of bondage, is our conscience.

In Romans 2:15 we read, “They know what is right and wrong, for their conscience validates this “law” in their heart.” (TPT)

The conscience that God has instilled in man is not only in believers but in every human being, so that every person is fully aware of what is right and wrong, irrespective of who they are. Conscience that God placed inside of us, is that voice that cautions us before we decide to do wrong, convicts us while we do wrong and constantly bothers us after we have done wrong.

Like most companies have internal and external audits our conscience is the internal audit that the Lord has placed inside of us to keep our lives in check and in order, as each one of us will one day have to stand before the judgement seat of Christ to face what we may call the external audit. As the judgement of the Lord is an assured reality, where each of us will have to give an account for every sinful thought, word and deed, it is necessary for us to keep our consciences alert and sensitive to the voice of God, so we need have no fear to stand before the Lord on that day.

Many people today, are faced with perpetual conflict as to what is right and what is wrong. What was considered inappropriate in days gone by, is now treated as acceptable and the norm. The world sets certain standards which society also attests to, but sadly these standards are flimsy and constantly subject to change. For example, a decade ago if boys wore torn jeans which isl today branded as ‘beggar jeans’ they would be pitied, but today it is considered fashionable and trendy.

As the standards of this world keeps altering continually every day, we as believers are called to exercise caution, to not get into the trap of getting ourselves entangled by the world and its ideologies. In order to be strong and live by God’s standards, we must realize that our conscience is that voice of God that we must constantly give heed to. If we start to compromise on various issues, we will find that we gradually begin to blend in with the world, weaken the voice of our conscience and will certainly come to a place where we no longer feel any form of remorse over things that are not really pleasing to the Lord. Without our even realizing it, our conscience is daily being shaped by the standards that we adhere to.

It is good to remind ourselves that God’s standards will never change, but will always remain constant. Talking about the law of the Lord, David says in Psalm 19:11, “They are a warning to your servant, a great reward to for those who obey them.” (NLT)

The word of God not only warns us, but also promises great reward to those who live in obedience to the same. The word of God therefore is our only standard to follow and live by, for we believe and worship a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

In 1 Timothy 2:9, Paul says, “I also want the women to be modest and sensible about their clothes and to dress properly;” (GNB)

Paul in the above mentioned verse admonishes women to dress modestly. This standard that God has set in His word does not change with time. Our modernity should never compromise the modesty that the Lord expects for us to have. This is true for and applies to every other area of our lives. In an age where we are being forced to compromise and fit in with the crowd, it’s a good reminder that the Lord has set certain standards for us, and we will be blessed if we comply with His guidelines. Let us not lower our standards to the standards of this world, as the standards of this world are always in conflict with God’s holy standards.

For example the world dictates that if one were to lie to escape a complicated situation it is acceptable. The world has also categorized lies conveniently as white lies and black lies. There’s a story told of four young boys who bunked classes and missed their exams to go for a fun trip. When they got back the next day, all four of them gave letters saying that they couldn’t make it to the exam as the tyre of the car they were travelling in got punctured. The teacher who was a shrewd man, made the four young men sit in different rooms and told them that he would give them a re-exam. The boys were shocked when they found only one question on their paper and the question was ‘which tyre got punctured?’ and all of them got stumped. The story may sound hilarious, but often we put ourselves in a situation of deceit and compromise thereby landing ourselves in deep trouble.