Keep your conscience clear

Sun, 21 Jul 2024

‘Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.’ 1 Timothy 1:1920

Sometimes, we want to justify what we are doing and say, ‘It feels right, so it can’t be wrong.’ However, if God’s Word says something is wrong, it’s wrong, no matter how right it feels. The old saying, ‘Let your conscience be your guide,’ is only half the truth. The other half should read, ‘as long as your conscience is grounded in and guided by the clear teachings of God’s Word.’ As a redeemed child of God, you are called to live by His commandments instead of your feelings, impulses, emotions, or popular thinking. When those things guide you, the winds of temptation can sweep you off course and shipwreck you. Paul writes: ‘This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.’ (1 Timothy 1:18-20 NASB20).

We don’t know much about Hymenaeus and Alexander, but what we do know is sobering and instructive. They failed to develop, protect, and live by a conscience that was grounded in God’s Word and ended up spiritually shipwrecked. What a graphic image: a ship broken to pieces on the rocks because it got off course. So, the word for today is—your conscience must be based on God’s Word, and you must always keep it clear!