A tender conscience Having a tender heart (see Ephesians 4:32) is equivalent to having a tender conscience, and tenderness of conscience is vital to being used by God. In 1 Timothy 4:1,2 Paul wrote, But the [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirit and doctrines that demons teach, through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized). It is dangerous to become hard-hearted and to develop a seared conscience. If we do, we cannot really tell if we are doing anything wrong or not. One way we develop tender consciences is by being quick to repent and avoid excuses when God convicts us of something. When God shows us we did something wrong, we need to say, You are right, Lord. I am wrong. There is no excuse, so please forgive me and help me not do it again. It is amazing how much that will help us have tender consciences toward God. But as soon as we start trying to reason things out and make excuse for our wrongs, we start getting a little callous on our consciences. It become just a little bit harder for us to feel than it was the time before. For example, if I mistreat someone and do not repent, my conscience begins to callous. The next time I do it, my conscience gets a little more callous. Soon, though I go around presenting myself as a person who loves God, He cannot use me anymore because I am mistreating people in how I talk to them and behave toward them. The worst thing is that I do not even realize I am doing it because I no longer have a tender heart and a tender conscience toward God. We must remember that God does not care how gifted or talented we are; His primary concern is our heart attitude. If we have willing hearts, stirred-up hearts, wise hearts, perfect hearts, and tender consciences, the devils plan for destruction is destroyed because then nothing can stop us from being used by God.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 13:18:22 +0000
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