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.

Tweetable: Do you have a captive conscience? 

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Throwback Tuesday - Restless Wanderer - Martin Wiles

Restless Wanderer

From now on you will be a homeless fugitive on the earth, constantly wandering from place to place. Genesis 4:12 NLT

I’ve returned several times, but it was never the same.

Home may be the place they have to take you when you return, but no one said it would be the same when you got there. I left home immediately after high school graduation. I couldn’t wait to put my feet under my own table and make my own rules. Read more...

Tweetable: Where are your wanderings taking you? 

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The Shadow of Shame - Martin Wiles

Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. Psalm 34:5 NLT

The shadow of shame followed him like a dog on a leash reluctant to walk.

Vinny grew up in a home where religious rules were forced down his throat like a nasty medicine. For his first fourteen years, he could do nothing about his situation—other than stew on the inside. At fifteen, a driver’s license and a new car gave him the freedom he wanted. Add a few rowdy friends, and his course of rebellion was set.

Vinny’s road of rebellion began with smoking and drinking. School was merely a place to hang out when he’d missed too many days to stay out again. The habits soon led to acts of vandalism. Acts that could have landed him in jail—or at least caused him to do community service and pay a large fine—had he been caught.

By the time Vinny was sixteen, he had more than a few notches of rebellion in his belt. But he wasn’t really proud of them. His parents and others had taught him better. The day came when he confessed all his mess and turned his life around, but the shadow of shame remained.

Vinny wondered whether God could still use him. No one except his friends knew all he had done. On Sundays, he appeared to be a normal teenager. The perfect preacher’s kid. It wasn’t until some years later that he came to understand the full and complete forgiveness of Christ and moved beyond his past.

I can identify with Vinny. I, too, have things in my past I’m not proud of. At one time, they held me back. I wondered if God could use someone with a sordid past. But like the psalmist, I looked to God, and He removed the shadow of shame.

I remembered the verse that said those in Christ were new creatures whose old things had passed away. And the one that reminded me I was no longer under condemnation. And the one that said confession brings forgiveness and a renewed relationship with Christ. I looked at the many seedy characters in the Bible who God chose to use despite their shameful pasts. I began looking to God and stopped listening to Satan who said the shadow of shame made me useless. Shame became just a shadow with no substance.

Don’t let the shadow of shame keep you from serving Christ in the present.

Tweetable: Are you living in the shadow of shame?

Prayer: Father, we thank You for putting our pasts in the past and for using us in the present. 

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