April 14, 2022
Your conscience is the part of you that knows yourself. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary describes it well.
“Internal or self-knowledge, or judgment of right and wrong; or the faculty, power or principle within us, which decides on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our own actions and affections, and instantly approves or condemns them.”
HARDENED OR TENDER?
It’s possible to so sin against your conscience, violating what you know to be true and right so often that you form deep callouses there. You are no longer bothered by evil--done by yourself or others.
The most usable man is he who listens to the Lord and responds instantly. His conscience is clear before God and man--both vertically and horizontally.
THE DAVID EXAMPLE
David was falsely accused and hunted like a dog by a jealous King Saul. David and his men were hiding in the deep recesses of a cave when Saul lay down in the front rooms and fell asleep. His men urged David to see this as a gift from God and take Saul’s life. But David only took a small portion of the edge of his robe. But even this bothered David.
It came about afterward that David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 24:5-6)
Here is a man with a tender heart and mind. A soul that is pliable to God. And this is the usable man. David rose to be the greatest human king in Israel’s history, a man after God’s own heart.
Don’t sin against your conscience. Keep it tender by constant attention to God’s slightest touch. In this way, you will be open to God’s leadership and continually at His disposal.
Father, thank You that You long to show us the right way all the time. Help us quickly respond in repentance and restitution when we sin. Don’t let us keep long accounts that are not resolved. Help us keep the roof off and the walls down between us and God and man. Keep our hearts usable to You.
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