Having an Uncondemned Heart

Having An Uncondemned Heart

“Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” 1 Peter 4:19

There is nothing like a clear conscience! You know what I mean, brothers. I don’t have to explain that to you.

One of my favorite devotional authors is Dr. Glynn Evans. He wrote a daily devotional, DAILY WITH THE KING (Moody Press) that I have been reading for years. He has been a good mentor during my daily walk with the Lord. This is what he shared on December 10^th about have a clear conscience and an uncondemned heart:

I must at all times strive to maintain a good conscience before God. A good conscience is one in which I am not conscious of anything in me that is offensive to God. A good conscience is cultivated by a close walk with God; the farther from God I live, the more I will tend to have a weak conscience, one that is weakened by too much contact with the world.

Thank God, no disciple ever has a dead conscience, one that is calloused or “past feeling” (Ephesians 4:19). Nor will the disciple ever have an evil conscience, one that is twisted by doing much evil.

A good conscience is not automatic. It is the result of the habit of bringing my “uncondemned heart” before God, who is greater than my conscience, and who by His power gradually brings my conscience into the same sensitive state that He is in (1 John 3:19-21). My aim must be to live before God with an “uncondemned heart” (clear conscience) so that I might “have confidence before God” (vs. 21). 

Nothing weakens my conscience and destroys my effectiveness in service more than having God stare at some things in my life that do not meet His approval. I must live the life of an uncondemned heart.

I can afford the criticism of the world, and even my Christian friends, if my heart is clean before God.

 I must never bow to criticism at the expense of my conscience, for that is denial of my conscience. Nor must I ever allow the conscience of others to dictate what my conscience ought to be before God. For that reason, I must repel social pressure to conform, and never lose my individual accounting before God. To become social clay is to deny my “good conscience” before God. I must always let Him be my shaper and molder (Jeremiah 18:6) so that I may become not only a usable vessel, but a person made sensitive toward sin as He Himself is.”

So brothers, how is your conscience? Is it clear? Do you have a condemned heart? If you have something between you and the Savior, today is the day to make it right! Talk to Him about it! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 11; Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2

Dig This Quote: When we stand in the middle of a lifestorm, it seems as if the storm has become our way of life. We cannot see a way out. We are unable to chart a course back to smoother waters. We feel defeated - and broken. Will that brokenness produce a cynicism that will keep us forever in the mire of if only thinking? Or will we yield up that brokenness to the resources of One who calms the winds and the waves, heals the brokenhearted, and forgives the most grievous of sins? The choice is ours.
Verdell Davis, in Riches Stored in Secret Places

Determined Digging: Level 1: John 15:5; Level 2: Matthew 6:30-34

Determined Praying: We are encouraged to come freely to God but not flippantly. John Blanchard