Tuesday May 09th, 2023
Meditate on: 1 Timothy 1:19 NLT
« Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. »
Read: 1 Timothy 1:18-20 NKJV
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Understand:
When chastised over sin, some people are fond of saying that their conscience does not condemn them, even when they have been caught in the obvious act of sin.
They may be right after all, because it’s only a conscience that is alive and active than can condemn or caution an individual engaging in things contrary to the will of God.
God gave everyone a conscience to serve as an internal restraining guide regulating each of our actions.
However, when a person continuously refuses to yield to its control, its voice will be silenced.
In that state, such a person’s mind becomes reprobate.
Describing this condition, Romans 1:28 NLT say:
« Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. ».
We are therefore told in today’s Bible reading to hold on to our faith in Christ and keep our conscience clear if we do not want to wreak havoc on our salvation.
The text also says that we are expected to engage in a good warfare.
What is this good warfare?
There is an internal battle that occurs in our minds every day.
The devil and his agents continually propose to us things that are contrary to the will of God.
We have to continually fight them with the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word, just as our Master did (Matthew 4:1-11), in order to ensure that we live with a good conscience before God.
Paul held this up as the great testimony of his life in Acts 23:1bNLT where he said:
« I have always lived before God with a clear conscience! »
A good conscience is a living conscience.
When a person’s conscience is dead, he or she sees things from a skewed perspective.
For example, a man may go around sleeping with other women, riding on the excuse that his wife has refused to ‘cooperate’ with him in bed. Such a man would ask, “What do you expect me to do when this woman denied me my right?” When you try to correct some other men who marry a second wife, they may tell you to go and preach to Jacob, David and Solomon first before condemning their action.
A Christian sister whose conscience is dead would dress half-naked and tell you what she wears does not matter, inasmuch as she is born again and her conscience does not condemn her. How will her conscience condemn her when she has silenced it repeatedly, to the extent that it is now permanently muted?
An example of someone with a dead conscience is Judas Iscariot.
Despite the fact that Jesus exposed his betrayal plans and warned him about it, he still went ahead with it.
There are many people like him in church today. No matter how hot the sermon is, the reprobate will not heed its warning.
That will not be your portion in Jesus’ Name.
Prayer point: Father, please help me to continually live in good conscience before You, in Jesus’ Name.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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