2007-12-08 - The Door is a Jar

Acts 24:16, "In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and before men."

Years ago when I was in seminary, I was going out to lunch with a professor who was not just any professor, but the President of the seminary, and also my advisor. It was the kind of lunch all seminary students love: He was paying. As we reached the restaurant and got out of the car, he apparently left his keys in the ignition, and the car talked to us, "The door is ajar. The door is ajar." This crafty professor responded to the voice system in the car, "No it isn't. The door is a door." I was quite impressed with his originality.

If you are like me, and if you had owned the same car as my professor, you would have had that talking voice system deactivated at the dealer's, before you put down a penny on the car. He didn't, and it gives us a great illustration of the voice that we all have inside of us: Our conscience. If you are like me, and the Bible says you are, you have a conscience. It would be hard to deny having a conscience, when the Bible (1 Peter 3:16, "and keep a good conscience.") says that we do. Conscience is like that little voice in the car (but it is in our heads) that tells us what we need to know.

It is often the case that before the sinner comes to Christ, their conscience becomes awakened. They become aware of the reality of their sin and their dreadful standing before God. This is the conscience, and the sinner starts to seek a remedy for that accusing voice. The remedy is Christ, and His shed blood for sin quiets and calms the conscience. But the Christian needs to keep a good conscience, or that accusing nature appears again. We all know this by experience. A good conscience is crucial to our spiritual health and happiness. It is, for the Christian, an ever-present witness to our thoughts, actions, and secrets. The conscience can be our best friend, but it can also be our great pursuer. It is our wisdom to make conscience our close welcoming companion.

Have you ever known deeply the preciousness, beauty, and constancy of Christ? If you know Christ as precious, He will have a strong attraction to you. How do we know if Christ is precious to us? We look to our hearts. Are our hearts drawn to Christ, His love, compassion, mercy, and care? If we find our hearts dwelling upon and drawn unto Christ, we can say He is precious to us. What does your conscience tell you? Is Christ precious to you? Is your conscience accusing or defending your personal experience of the preciousness of Christ unto you? Regardless of how you respond, you have just witnessed your conscience at work. May the Lord sear the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ deep into all our hearts.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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