Guiding Conscience

Posted: January 27th, 2011   Category: christian, Common Sense

If we had God walking with us, in everything we do, do you think we’d behave any differently than we do right now? Imagine, Jesus quietly seated next to us. We’re driving to work and nearly get hit because someone is texting while swerving from lane to lane. With Jesus right there, would you hold your temper, anger, frustration and comments? Let’s momentarily return to that last anxious day before you took your road test to get your first driver’s license. Your mother or father was seated next to you, and your driving performance was being carefully watched. You were driving very cautiously because you didn’t want to make any mistakes. Your license to “freedom” depended on it. OK, now it’s a month later, you have your license, but instead of mom or dad, you have 2 friends in the car with you. Are you driving as carefully as you did on that day before your test? If you’ve answered yes, you are more than the exception, you are an anomaly! Whether at work or school, in competition or practice, public or semi-private, anywhere in life where we have a judgmental audience, we routinely alter our behavior to varying degrees. We put a different (hopefully better) foot forward. What does that say about us? It says that either we want to be perceived as better than we think we are normally or it’s incredibly exhausting to be at our very best all the time. We are only human. So was Jesus, when he walked on earth, 100% human. Just like He is 100% God all of the time. He led a perfect, earthly life. How exhausting must that have been, best foot forward with every step?

After Jesus was crucified, but before His ascension back to the heavenly kingdom of God, He reappeared before His disciples, John 20:21-22, “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you‘. And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit“. From that day forth, the Spirit of God has been with us, 24/7. We may or may not acknowledge it, but if we accept the bible and the Word of God, it’s a fact. The Apostle Paul, in his writings from the chapters of First and Second Corinthians, Acts and Romans, refers to the conscience fourteen times, but perhaps makes this point most clearly in 1Co 4:4, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me“. The Holy Spirit judged Paul through his conscience and still does that with us. The Lord knows that we are only human and understands our backward steps better than we do. So don’t think for a single moment that you’re ever alone. Now, start again and let your conscience be your guide.

JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE

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