FEATURES

from Glendale Star 07-23-2020

by Times Media Group

1995

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Getting to know the amazing guide on your inside

A burglar who needed money to pay his income taxes decided to rob the safe in a store. On the safe door, he was pleased to fi nd a note reading, “Please don’t use dynamite. The safe is not locked. Just turn the knob.” He did so. A heavy sandbag fell on him, fl oodlights lit the entire premises, and alarms started clanging. As the police carried him out on a stretcher, he moaned, “My confi dence in human nature has been rudely shaken.”

This story illustrates the need for who I would like to introduce us to today. We may stifl e it; we might quench it, hurt it or even defi le it. However, we will never be able to escape it. It will be there, attaching itself to the highest standard we know inside of us. Everyone has heard it talk to us, congratulate us, convict us, remind us or try to guide us. Who and what am I talking about today? Allow me to introduce you to your conscience. Charles Wesley called our conscience “a principle within of watchful godly fear.”

In the Greek language, conscience means “to know with.” Greek people in their everyday conversation used conscience. It meant “the pain that you feel when you do wrong.” According to the standards we have in our heart, conscience is that inner faculty that indicates to us whether our actions are

CHURCH COMMUNITY CONNECTION Pastor Ed Delph Glendale Star Columnist

right or wrong.

Author Warren Wiersbe writes, “Conscience is not the law; conscience bears witness to the law. Conscience is not the standard; conscience bears witness to the standard. Conscience is judicial. Conscience does not make or pass the law. Conscience bears witness to the law. Our conscience is our God-given guide to God’s highest, our personal best and societies best if we listen to it.” Pretty heady stuff, huh.

Here are some quotes by wise leaders supplying insight about our conscience.

“Conscience is a man’s compass,” Vincent Van Gogh.

“Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life,” Karel Barth.

“Conscience is thus explained as the voice of God in the soul,” Peter Kreeft.

“Reason often makes mistakes, but a good conscience never does.” Josh Billings.

When we cheat on an examination, tell a lie or do something that we instinctively should not do, our conscience reminds and even bothers us. Something inside of us says, “Dude, you missed it!” Of course, like the burglar above, we may have abused our conscience so much that it doesn’t bother us as it did before in the significant areas of life that bring peace and prosperity. That’s a bad sign when a person or a society gets to that point.

Honoré de Balzac says, “Conscience is our unerring judge until we fi nally stifl e it.”

The Scriptures reveal several types of consciences. There is a clear conscience, a good conscience and an undefi led conscience. Conversely, there is an evil conscience, a seared conscience, a defi led conscience and a weak conscience. Our conscience can only respond to the standards it was given. That’s why it’s crucial to have the best standard. After all, a conscience without God is like a court without a judge.

Some believe that conscience originates from behind us, that is, from our evolution. Some believe that conscience originates from around us, that is, from society-based standards. Some believe conscience originates from within us, that is, from our upbringing or family standards. Remember, society or upbringing may give us standards, but it doesn’t give us a conscience. So, where does our conscience originate?

The Bible says in Romans 2:14-15 that conscience originates from above us. Conscience is in people everywhere in the world. It has a common source, and that common source is God. God gave all humanity a facility called the conscience and the best standard on which the conscience operates. All people instinctively know what is right and what is wrong in a general sense. All people have a God-imparted desire to do good, and to be good when they were born. Outside infl uences on our conscience, if we allow it, can eventually quench it, grieve it or defi le it, eventually leading to an evil conscience.

Indeed, our conscience was designed by God to be our guide. It can help us or hurt us, depending on the standard we choose for it. Hint: Don’t force your conscience to malfunction by continually making self-centered, self-absorbed, “whether right or wrong, I’m going to get what I want now” decisions you heard from other sources. The best food for a healthy conscience is the Word of God. That’s what makes you and your conscience soar.

Please don’t think subjects like havSEE DELPH PAGE 19