Hearing the Alarm - Martin Wiles

These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. 1 Timothy 4:2 NLT

Why I set one, I’m not sure. Hearing the alarm was something I never did.

 

Alarm clocks. I’ve had them all—from wind-up to battery-operated to electric. When I first bought an alarm clock or what kind it was, I don’t remember, but I do recall the wind-up one with two large bells on top. I bought that one because I loved hearing a clock tick, but I couldn’t handle the alarm. When it went off, I felt as if a fire alarm had erupted in my bedroom. When I found the cutoff switch, my heart galloped at racehorse speed.

 

Some of my electric alarm clocks have alarmed with almost as many decibels. One Christmas, my wife bought me what seemed like the perfect clock. I wanted one that tripled as an alarm clock/radio/CD player. This clock had two alarms, but the way the alarms sounded was wonderful. They didn’t start at full blast but began with a faint sound that grew louder until I finally turned it off. This woke me up gently instead of with heart-attack speed.

 

But my all-time favorite clock was the one my daughter gave me one Christmas. No radio. No CD. Just the time and a selection of sleeping sounds. Thunderstorms. Rivers. Campfires. This clock woke me up by chosen nature sounds as well. And its alarm also began softly and grew increasingly louder until I shut it off.

 

Funny thing though. I rarely heard the alarm because I usually woke up before it went off. As I have aged, I don’t sleep as well or as long. I now set my internal clock by telling myself what time I want to get up—and I wake up. No clock needed.

I suppose I could get so accustomed to the sound of my alarm clock that I wouldn’t even notice it when it alarmed. The same thing I do with my email and text sounds on my smartphone, which sits by my bed. I never hear the alerts or notifications at night. Getting accustomed to things is good . . . or bad.

 

Paul warned young Timothy that in the last times, people would turn away from the faith because their consciences were dead. They would no longer hear the alarm clock—God’s alarm clock, the little voice that speaks to our consciences when we go astray.

 

Not hearing God’s alarm system would be a terrible thing. I could do anything wrong I chose and never feel bad about it or never see any reason to do anything differently. I could walk wrong paths and keep walking them with a seared conscience. I could not care what others did either.

 

I’d rather hear the alarm. Doing so makes life better and keeps me on the right path. And I’d rather detect the alarm when it first sounds—not after it has blared for a while. By then, I would have continued in bad behavior, attitudes, or words, hurt others, and got accustomed to the wrong. God will blare if necessary, but hearing His soft voice is preferable.

 

Hearing God’s alarm when it first sounds takes effort—spiritual effort. When we keep ourselves familiar with His guiding principles and commands, we’ll hear the faintest sound of His alarm.

 

How can you do a better job of listening when God’s alarm goes off in your mind?

 

Father, thank You for Your alarm system that keeps me from harmful paths. 

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A Violated Conscience - Martin Wiles

Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. Daniel 6:18 NLT

Before I knew what a violated conscience was, I experienced what happened when I did it.

Long before my parents told me I wasn’t supposed to talk back to them, I felt a nagging sense of guilt when I did. When my eyes wandered onto a classmate’s test paper, a little voice in my head said, “Don’t do that.” During my teenage years, when I told my parents I hated them under my breath, a sense of shame arose in my gut. I always felt terrible if I lied about something that happened at school when my parents questioned me.

Early in my childhood, Mom and Dad taught me this voice was called my conscience. If a psychologist examined my brain, he would fail to pinpoint it, but it’s there, nevertheless.

Daniel was a teenager when foreign invaders captured his homeland. At around eighty, he was exalted by a succeeding king who gave him a position of honor. The new king was then tricked into signing a bad law by men jealous of Daniel. When Daniel violated the ungodly law, the envious crowd turned him in. Although the king had Daniel thrown into the lion’s den, he found himself in his own lion’s den. His conscience stalked him all night.

"Let your conscience be your guide" is an old idiom, the truth of which depends on what I’ve done with my conscience through the years. I can trust if I’ve programmed it with teachings from God’s Word. But I can't if I’ve pummeled it with lies and ungodly material.

Even though a doctor can’t locate my conscience, I know it exists. God created it as an invisible part of our makeup. He works through it by the presence of His Spirit. When we violate His guidelines, He uses it to let us know. When we’re sensitive to our consciences, we’ll quickly repent when we violate it or, better yet, listen before we’ve done or thought something we’ll have to repent of.

Can you let your conscience be your guide?

Prayer: Father, help us program our consciences with Your teachings so we can hear clearly when it guides us. 

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Internal Alarm - Martin Wiles

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. 1 Timothy 1:19 NLT

Only one time in the last year has it sounded.

I don’t remember the first alarm clock I had, but I do recall the type: analog and wind-up. Eventually, the clocks progressed to battery-operated and then electric, but as long as they remained analog, setting the alarm proved tricky. Getting the alarm hand on the exact time was next to impossible.

Digital clocks revolutionized the alarm business. With a digital clock, I could tell exactly what time it was, and I could also set my alarm for the exact time I wanted it to sound. This made life easier. My analog watch—Timex, to be precise—also changed to digital, and I could do the same with it.

Years later, cell phones appeared—from a bag phone to a flip phone and finally to an iPhone, each with a more precise alarm. With satellite technology, I could know the exact time, which also allowed me to set the alarm at an exact minute.

But for most of my life, I’ve not needed any of these things. Many people, me included, have an internal alarm clock. If I know what time I need to get up, I merely tell myself before I go to bed, and I’ll wake up at that time—or close to it. In the last year, I’ve only heard my alarm—of which I have two set—one time. On the weekend, I don’t set one, and I wake up later. Funny how God has created our bodies.

God has also placed another type of alarm in me called my conscience. Not conscious. That just means I’m awake. The other conscience is the little voice in my head that directs my life’s decisions. Paul tells his young child in the faith to keep his clear. Some haven’t—and have wrecked their faith.

As my alarm is intended to wake me up to a new day or important dates, so God designs our consciences to awaken us to thoughts and actions that do and don’t please Him. 

The conscience is negative and positive. With its promptings, we can do a good deed or say something positive to someone that we might not otherwise do or say. On the flip side, it might help us avoid doing or saying something we shouldn’t.

Honing our consciences regularly with spiritual truth from God’s Word is essential in keeping it working properly. God allows His Spirit to work through our consciences. When they are filled with God’s truth, the process works smoother, leading us to pure actions and thoughts.

We might not need a physical clock, but we do need our internal clocks. Without it—or if we refuse to listen to it—our lives will be a mess.

Don’t turn your internal clock off. God has placed it there for a purpose.

Prayer: Father, thank You for giving us an internal clock to keep us on track. 

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Walk-on Wednesday - A Cleansed Conscience - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Walk-on Wednesday. By Hump Day, we are struggling, but we believe a good devotion can strengthen us to finish the week strong. 

Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. Hebrews 13:18 NLT

His remedy for a good night’s sleep was easier said than done.

I was his pastor, and he was one of the godliest men I’d ever met. One day our conversation turned to sleep—specifically, my trouble doing so. Even though many elderly people have difficulty sleeping, he didn’t. He did take a Benadryl before he retired for the night, but that was for his allergies—not a sleeping aid.

When I asked what his key for restful nights was, he said, “I go to bed with a clear conscience.” Knowing him as I did, I believed him. He continually performed kind deeds, his speech was uplifting and clean, and he made an honest living by tending to a small farm while drawing his retirement.

Whoever the writer of Hebrews was, his conscience was clear also. Many others may have been preaching and teaching a corrupt gospel, but not him. Others may have felt guilt over past mistakes, but he didn’t. Instead, he simply wanted prayer support from his fellow Christians.

My conscience hasn’t always been clear. During my periods of rebellion against God’s will and commands, it bothered me tremendously. God tried to get my attention.

But when I finally confessed my orneriness and straightened things out between God and me, it occasionally still bothered me. No longer was God pricking my conscience. Now it was Satan. He wanted to chain me to what God had freed me from: the penalty of my sins, which I had confessed.

From God’s perspective, confession and repentance cleanse our conscience. Satan would love nothing more than for us to believe we’ve been too bad for God to forgive—but we haven’t.

Based on what Christ has done—and our acceptance of his gift—we can live with a clear conscience. 

Knowing we’re on good terms with God frees us from worry, anxiety, and feelings of false guilt.

If your conscience isn’t clear, ask God why.

Prayer: Father, we thank You that we can live with clear consciences because of what Christ has done. 

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Walk-on Wednesday - Cleansing the Conscience - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Walk-on Wednesday. By Hump Day, we are struggling, but we believe a good devotion can strengthen us to finish the week strong. 

For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. Hebrews 9:9 NLT

He was the sweetest man in the world when she married him . . . but that soon changed.

Peter and Catrina were high school sweethearts who planned their wedding for the summer after their graduation. Nine months later, Catrina delivered their baby girl. Shortly after Adeline’s birth, life took a downward turn when Peter lost his job.

Desperate, Peter decided to do what he wouldn’t have otherwise. He robbed a local store and buried the money in a vacant lot. But he left evidence behind that led to his arrest and a six-year prison sentence. The money, however, was never recovered. Catrina didn’t feel as if she could give him a second chance. She visited him only once while he was in jail.

Imagine Catrina’s surprise when six years later Peter showed up at a Christmas celebration hosted by the police chief. In his hand was the bag of money which he presented to the police chief. “It’s all there,” he said. Peter had done his time; all he wanted now was a second chance with his wife and daughter. Prison life hadn’t soothed his conscience.

Thousands upon thousands of sacrifices couldn’t pacify the raging consciences of the worshipers who brought them faithfully. The commands and ceremonies were merely temporary fixes until Christ came and paid what only a sinless person could pay.

Cleansed consciences are only possible by accepting and understanding what Christ has done. We could pay for our sins—but it would mean death and eternal punishment. No one else has offered to do this and couldn’t if they wanted since they are sinners as well.

Only the sinless Son of God could solve our dilemma. Knowing and believing that isn’t enough, however, to clear our consciences. We must believe our sins are forgiven. If we hang on to past mistakes he has forgiven—as Peter did—we’ll live continuously with false guilt. Satan will capitalize on our misunderstanding of forgiveness and make our lives miserable and useless.

What Christ has paid for and we’ve accepted, God will never hold against us again. Is your conscience clean?

Prayer: Father, cleanse our consciences from the false guilt that Satan attempts to inflict.

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The Talking Conscience - Martin Wiles

I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. Romans 7:15 NLT

“D…. it.”

Had I really heard my four-year-old grandson say what I thought I had heard him say? I was busy, Meme was gone, and he was playing. I must have misunderstood him. After all, he’s a fast talker, and I often don’t understand him. I dismissed what I thought I had heard.

Later that day, I thought I heard him say it again. But this time, I was sure. And if I had doubts, his six-year-old brother dismissed them.

“He said D… it,” the older brother piped.

Meme quickly chimed in, “Where did you hear that word?”

The older brother knew we forbade the word. A couple of years prior, he had picked up a few choice words. I had talked with him and told him which ones were “bad” words. Now he served as the bad-word Nazi for his younger brother.

Our younger grandson’s eyes widened when Meme and I questioned him. As far as he knew, he had just added a word to his vocabulary. He had no idea the word was a curse word.

“Where did you hear it?” I asked again when he didn’t answer his Meme.

“On a movie,” he finally answered, not seeming to know where he had actually heard it.

No doubt, he had heard it on a movie or a television show or from an adult who carelessly spoke it in his presence. We didn’t fuss at him. He didn’t know any better. We simply explained it was a word God didn’t want us to say.

From now on, if he says the word, he will hear voices…or a Voice. I’ve also heard voices since I was about his age. I still hear them. I wasn’t crazy when I was young, and I’m not now. Nor have I ever visited a psychiatrist to determine why I hear voices. I know why.

My voices are a part of the same issue Paul dealt with. He heard voices, too. One bad and one good. One from God and one from his enemy, Satan. And Paul did battle, often losing in the process by listening to the wrong voice. I’ve often lost the same battle.

We come into this world with a bent toward badness. God also creates in us a thing called the conscience. It’s the part of us that He—but also Satan—speaks to us through. When I do or say something errant, God tells me I shouldn’t have and that I need to confess my sin to Him. Satan, on the other hand, tells me not to worry about what God says.

Like my grandson, I don’t automatically know what’s right and wrong. Someone has to teach me, as my wife and I and our daughter have taught our grandson—as have his teachers at church and at school. When I program my conscience with God’s requirements, then I can trust the voice in my head when it warns me not to say or do what I’m thinking about saying or doing.

Although our grandson didn’t hear the voice when he first uttered the “bad” word, he will from now on. Someone told him not to say it, and God will use that teaching and speak to him through his conscience.

God uses our consciences for good purposes and uses us to help program others’ consciences. When we listen, our lives are better and so is the world.

Let your conscience be your guide.

Prayer: Father, thank You for speaking through our consciences to keep us on the proper life track.

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Meandering Monday - Maintaining a Clear Conscience - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday, where we take a trip back to an earlier post and enjoy it again. 

Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people. Acts 24:16 NLT

Clear consciences lead to healthier living.

Our front and back doors are solid glass. Since I’m not one to like fingerprints hanging around on glass—whether on doors or on bathroom windows--I regularly clean both areas. Until our first grandson came along and my wife started keeping him every day, clean doors weren’t an issue. Suddenly, they were. 

Our grandson liked the wooden doors open so he could see outside. He also loved to put his grimy little hands all over the doors while he peered at the sites outside. Although I cleaned the doors once a week on the day he was not here, it accomplished little. As soon as he arrived the following Monday, the doors were covered with fingerprints again. I determined fingerprint-free glass doors were an impossibility as long as he was around. 

The apostle Paul encountered and endured many a sticky situation during his early missionary journeys, but maintained a clear conscience in spite of the attacks and accusations. He regularly confessed what his life was like before Christ as well as what Christ had done for him afterward. Regular confession of sin keeps my conscience clear and the causeway open between me and God. Guilt—whether false or genuine--melts away when I come clean before God.

Regular reading of God’s Word—along with other helpful Christian material--also helps maintain a clear conscience. Through his Word and other authors, God persistently reminds me of his standards so I can judge myself accordingly. 

Continually monitoring my actions, attitudes, and speech is a necessity. God helps me do that through spiritual disciplines, but having an accountability partner also helps. Often, what I can’t see, God gives others the ability to see clearly.

Understanding God’s forgiveness affects the state of my conscience as well. While God has forgiven all my sins through Christ, I still must acknowledge and own them. Otherwise, my conscience will suffer. 

Is your conscience clear before God? It can be.

Prayer: God of love and grace, we thank You for the forgiveness that’s available in Christ and for the further ability to live free from guilt. 
(Photo courtesy of morguefile and jade.)

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A Captive Conscience - Martin Wiles

But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 1 Samuel 24:5 NLT

My conscience spoke … but I didn’t listen.

My conscience had been programmed with the right stuff. Mom and Dad made sure of that. They took me to church every time the doors opened. I heard Daddy preach the Bible, and I listened as teachers told me Bible stories. At home, my rules mimicked God’s commands, and discipline followed if I didn’t adhere to them. I also experienced the positive side of God’s commands as I enjoyed love from my family that parroted God’s love.

Then I became a teenager, and things changed. I didn’t enjoy the rules anymore. And suddenly, Mom and Dad seemed overbearing. I wanted to get away … to do my own thing. Having friends who felt the same way didn’t help. Bad company can corrupt good morals. I didn’t stand for the right but reveled in the wrong.

As I enjoyed my bad behavior, my conscience bothered me. I knew my behavior was wrong and displeased my parents, my teachers at church—and God. At the moment, I didn’t care.

Eventually, my conscience got the better of me. I confessed, repented, and turned back to the way I knew was right. This soothed my conscience and made life more pleasant.

Like me, David listened to his conscience. David served as a warrior in King Saul’s army, but God had also chosen him as the next king. The prophet Samuel had anointed him as such when he was only a shepherd boy herding his father’s sheep. As David’s military conquests increased, so did Saul’s jealousy. Now, David ran, and Saul hunted him.

As Saul entered a cave to use the bathroom—a cave David and his army hid in—David crept up behind him and cut off a small portion of his robe. That’s when his conscience kicked in. Even though Saul reigned as a cruel and ungodly king, God had commanded that the people support the king. David apologized to Saul.

Our conscience makes up a part of humanity. God works to help us know the difference between right and wrong. When we choose the wrong, God convicts us. If we don’t listen, the conviction—and discipline—grows. Years of rejection can lead to a seared conscience. One where doing wrong doesn’t bother us anymore. A dangerous place.

The right response to God’s conviction is repentance and confession. When we do this, things between us and God are righted again. He can use us in His Kingdom’s work, and we will once again enjoy life.

Our conscience can be our guide only when we have programmed it with God’s commands and principles. Why not do that so your conscience can guide you properly.

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to program our consciences with the right things.

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Flashback Friday - Living with a Clear Conscience - Martin Wiles

Living With a Clear Conscience

I once knew an elderly gentleman who loved to say, “I don’t have any trouble sleeping because I go to bed with a clear conscience.” I suppose his nightly Benadryl didn’t hurt any, but I got his point. And having watched his lifestyle, I knew why he slept well. 

The conscience is a wonderfully designed part of our human makeup through which God’s Spirit works to let us know when we’re on the wrong path. I’ve not always lived with a clear conscience, but I’m getting better at it as I get older and learn how to let Christ live through me. As peer pressure wanes and spiritual maturity grows, my conscience doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it once did. Read more...

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