Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Our Conscience.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sconce.jpg

"The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of his being."
Proverbs 20:27

I didn't understand this verse so I looked it up in the commentaries. They said that God puts light into every person. With this light we can understand what is good and what is evil. We can search inside ourselves and see what our motives are. This is what we call our conscience.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord,.... The rational soul of man is a light set up in him; this is what is commonly called the light of nature; it was a bright and burning light at first, but through sin is become a very feeble one; by which men have only a glimmering view of divine things, of God and his worship, and of what he would have done, or not done; by this light men do but grope after him, if happily they may find him and know his will; it is but like a candle light at best, in comparison of divine revelation, or the Gospel of the grace of God, which has shone out like the sun in its meridian glory; and especially in comparison of the sun of righteousness, Christ Jesus, and the light of the divine Spirit; yet this is a light set up by the Lord, a candle of his; it comes from the Father of lights, he is the author and maintainer of it; it is a spirit and understanding which is by the inspiration of the Almighty; see Genesis 2:7;
searching all the inward parts of the belly; or heart; the thoughts, intents, and purposes of it; which are the things of a man that only the spirit of man knows; by this candle, or light, he can look into his own heart, the inmost recesses of it, and reflect upon his thoughts and schemes, and judge in some measure whether right or wrong; there is a conscience in man, which, unless seared, passes sentence on what is in man, or done by him, and either excuses or accuses; see 1 Corinthians 2:10Romans 2:14.
http://bible.cc/proverbs/20-27.htm

Many times I have had my conscience bother me about something I've done. When I was a teenager, I used to steal make-up. After I became a Christian, my conscience bothered me about it so I sent the stores money. I lived in a different country by then, but I am so glad God gave me the chance to pay those people back.

About twenty years ago, I got angry at a store manager about some clothing I bought from her store that had fallen apart. She refused to give me a refund. I threw the jeans at her and huffed out of the store. When I got home, the Lord used my conscience to tell me I had done wrong. Well. THAT's for sure!! I felt awful so I went back to the store to apologize. That wasn't easy, but I knew I had to do it and I had done a terrible thing to be angry and mean to a person Jesus had died to save.

Thank you God for the conscience you have given us!

1 comment:

Just Be Real said...

Belle thank you for your honesty. Yes, facing someone that we done wrong can be very hard. Having to swallow our pride and admit we were in the wrong. I am learning more and more about false guilt. That is how more or less my conscience was ruled by. Now I am understanding the difference. Blessings.