Your Conscience: God's Inner Voice - Part 1

Conscience is designed to govern our thoughts and action, urging choices toward what is right and pleasing to God. The job of conscience is to develop an acute awareness in the mind and spirit when there is danger of engaging in behaviors harmful to one’s values and self-respect. How important is your conscience to you.

Conscience has been called the inner voice of God, alerting us to unacceptable motives, thoughts and actions. It’s difficult to listen to the voice of conscience when secret desires and motives override what is acceptable to God. It isn’t sinful to have a bad thought, but to nurture the thought is a serious sin.

Proverbs 23:7 issues this warning: “For as a person thinks in his heart, so he is.” This warning is against having detrimental thoughts that result in wrong choices and hurtful actions. However, we can choose to have the mind of Christ, allowing our thoughts to be anchored in him. It’s possible to do this, but it takes determination. 

Holding on Through Failure and Success - Part 3

Resilience keeps a person holding on when everyone says, "Let go."  Resilient people maintain a grip on what is right, good, and worthy, even when faced with great temptation.   The power and limitations of resilience or personal toughness is affected by what is believed to be true about a person or situation. "Whatever a man thinks in his heart, so he is."

There are limitations to resilience, that inner strength to adapt to the hardships of life. Psychologists study tolerance levels in people and remind us we  should acknowledge what we can tolerate as well as whom we can tolerate. Tolerance is about perception, which is indicative of what you think and believe.

Success and failure hinge on strengths and weaknesses, but not on these alone. Faith in Christ Jesus prevents letting go of your grip when you feel weak and it seems impossible to hang on. God gives strength to the weak, help to the needy, and hope for the future. He told the Apostle Paul, "My strength is made perfect in your weakness."