LET YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE
courtesy of Dad
Ever hear this advice from friends when you confide about struggles at work or your relationships? How about when friends ask you what to do in tough ethical situations? As a Christian, what insights can you offer?
In his book, Honesty, Morality & Conscience, Navigator president Jerry White offers these guidelines:
1. Recognize that by itself your conscience is an inadequate moral guide. The Bible acknowledges that while conscience can be good (Acts 23:1), it can also be evil (Hebrews 10:22), seared (1 Timothy 4:1,2), weak (1 Corinthians 8:9-12), or defiled (Titus 1:15). It can be uncleansed, insensitive, too tender, or misguided.
2. Thus, take steps to verify the urgings of your conscience. As you evaluate an issue or course of action, be sure to:
Examine Scripture. What commands, principles, or examples from God's Word address this issue?
Cultivate intimacy with the Holy Spirit. How is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, speaking to me regarding this?
Seek counsel. What insights can I gain from mature, godly Christians-remembering that no one can tell me what to do and I must accept personal responsibility for my actions?
3. Respond on the basis of faith in order to have a clear conscience before God and man.
Do I need to confess something-first to God, then to others?
What restitution do I need to make to someone for what I have done?
Do I need to stop or start doing something?
What attitudes about a person or situation might I need to change?
RESPONDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE
1. First you commit an act, say a word, think a thought, or harbor and attitude-or else you simply contemplate one of these actions
.
2. Your conscience then speaks, giving its judgment regarding the rightness or wrongness of your situation.
3. At this point, you have two options:
- Analyze the situation with your mind and take action by your will.
- Expose yourself to God's Word, His Spirit, and godly counsel. Even if the Bible does not address the issue directly, careful and consistent study of God's Word allows the Holy Spirit to instruct you. In addition, mature Christian friends can help you see your situation more objectively and offer insight from Scripture.
4. Finally, you must act on the basis of faith. As Paul wrote, "Whatever is not from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23).
Adapted from Honesty, Morality & Conscience by Jerry White. Copyright 1996 by Jerry White. Published by NavPress; used by permission.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Purity
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people (Ephesians 5:3, NIV).
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11, NIV).
Honesty
Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another (Leviticus 19:11, NIV).
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man (Acts 24:16, NIV).
Ever hear this advice from friends when you confide about struggles at work or your relationships? How about when friends ask you what to do in tough ethical situations? As a Christian, what insights can you offer?
In his book, Honesty, Morality & Conscience, Navigator president Jerry White offers these guidelines:
1. Recognize that by itself your conscience is an inadequate moral guide. The Bible acknowledges that while conscience can be good (Acts 23:1), it can also be evil (Hebrews 10:22), seared (1 Timothy 4:1,2), weak (1 Corinthians 8:9-12), or defiled (Titus 1:15). It can be uncleansed, insensitive, too tender, or misguided.
2. Thus, take steps to verify the urgings of your conscience. As you evaluate an issue or course of action, be sure to:
Examine Scripture. What commands, principles, or examples from God's Word address this issue?
Cultivate intimacy with the Holy Spirit. How is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, speaking to me regarding this?
Seek counsel. What insights can I gain from mature, godly Christians-remembering that no one can tell me what to do and I must accept personal responsibility for my actions?
3. Respond on the basis of faith in order to have a clear conscience before God and man.
Do I need to confess something-first to God, then to others?
What restitution do I need to make to someone for what I have done?
Do I need to stop or start doing something?
What attitudes about a person or situation might I need to change?
RESPONDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE
1. First you commit an act, say a word, think a thought, or harbor and attitude-or else you simply contemplate one of these actions
.
2. Your conscience then speaks, giving its judgment regarding the rightness or wrongness of your situation.
3. At this point, you have two options:
- Analyze the situation with your mind and take action by your will.
- Expose yourself to God's Word, His Spirit, and godly counsel. Even if the Bible does not address the issue directly, careful and consistent study of God's Word allows the Holy Spirit to instruct you. In addition, mature Christian friends can help you see your situation more objectively and offer insight from Scripture.
4. Finally, you must act on the basis of faith. As Paul wrote, "Whatever is not from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23).
Adapted from Honesty, Morality & Conscience by Jerry White. Copyright 1996 by Jerry White. Published by NavPress; used by permission.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Purity
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people (Ephesians 5:3, NIV).
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11, NIV).
Honesty
Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another (Leviticus 19:11, NIV).
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man (Acts 24:16, NIV).
posted by leb at 6:17 PM
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