Is Your Conscience Bothering You? Reclaiming Morality
Growing up, if I had a poor night’s sleep I remember my mom asking me, “is your conscience bothering you?” I am pretty sure it was something her mom said to her – and probably her mom before her.
There were mornings when “yes” would have been the appropriate answer to that question. These were the evenings when my inner compass of “right and wrong” would guide me back to right, after I had made a wrong choice.
In fact, my conscience would and does nag at me until I make it right – or repent – before God, and whomever else I may have hurt.
As I watch the world around me and listen to the narrative of the news and media my conscience is stirred and groans for our nation that seems to have lost it’s compass for right and wrong, for this nation that has lost its way.
1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” (NIV)
The ESV and King James say, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace”
One thing we can be sure of is God is NOT the ringleader of confusion – Satan is.
When we are faced with ideals and ideas that cause a dissonant feeling in our hearts and minds, our “Satan” radar needs to be on high alert – because we are about to be duped into believing something that is false.
It is a part of the evil one’s masterful plan to orchestrate confusion. In our hearts, minds, families, relationships, schools, political parties, societies, biology, AND churches.
Where there is confusion, there is division. Division is also not of God.
Let’s take human anatomy and biology as an example. God has ordered our bodies to operate, grow and produce offspring. Today our world tells us that God had it all wrong – or at least He didn’t have it all right. Now we are to believe that somehow our feelings, preferences and tendencies get to dictate and change God’s natural order of male and female.
We are led to believe that we know better how to live this life than God does.
In short, our propensity for instant and momentary gratification of our desires confuse what God has purposed and placed in perfect order.
In a culture of relativity and the ideology of no absolute truth, our minds and hearts are saturated with a narrative that teaches us to ignore our conscience. “Do what feels good. Do what is right for you.”
Dictionary.com defines conscience as, “an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.”
There was a time when a large portion of our nation was guided by the voice of God’s morality.
In our post-modern times, our nation’s worldview is largely shaped by social media influencers instead of by the foundations of life prescribed in the Bible. We are more concerned with what’s new, trendy and trending than TRUTH.
What’s scary, disheartening and confusing is that the voice that is resetting our moral standards has no care or concern for what their “influence” results in for the lives of their followers. The concern is for the number of followers, views, viral videos, money, power and likes.
The influencers have no idea and care little about the ramifications and lasting implications of what their decisions, biases, desires and lifestyles will lead to. Why? Because they aren’t God. And because they are self-focused.
My heart groans for our nation. We are a people wandering the desert in search of the oasis, in search of peace and tranquility. Yet our compass, that leads us to the source, the living water has been hijacked and cast aside. Do we even care what God’s thinks anymore?
We’ve traded what feels good for what is good. We’ve traded what we feel like should be true for what is true. We’ve traded what we want for what we need.
Let’s be honest – the world, because of sin, is hard. There is heartache and pain and suffering. Yet the decisions we make to go the way of society and leave our godly moral compass behind is like heaping burning coals on our heads.
Why would we heap upon ourselves needless pain? Why would we choose a path that leads to our own destruction – or even coach our kids down a path that leads to confusion and destruction?
The decisions and the order God has designed is because He knows the future. He knows how the “right versus wrong” plays out. It is because he loves us with such a fierce fatherly love that he desires to protect us from any needless pain. Hence morals, hence his commands to live according to His word.
What our world says is binding and restrictive – morality, purity, God’s ways – are in reality the FREEDOM they world so desperately needs. And the ways of the world lead to bondage, guilt, brokenness, harm and hurt – yet so often they are chosen because they feel right in the moment.
May I encourage you, to get alone – one on one with God. No other voices. No other notifications going off, no dings of emails, social media or news highlights. Just you and God.
I encourage you to ask God to rebuild your compass. Pray that God will give you clarity of direction & give you wisdom for how to navigate these confusing times, and not fall prey to the confusion.
May I encourage you that God is a God or peace and order. As you look out at the world around you and see confusion, disorder, moral decay and giving homage to emotions over sound judgement – be on alert.
Ask God to heighten your awareness and give you a radar for the evil one’s schemes to cause division in your life, family, relationships and community. And once you identify the source of confusion, may God give you the courage to pray against it, to stand for God’s moral best for you.
May I leave you this encouragement as we join together and pray for our nation, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Lord, have mercy on our nation.
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