Our Internal Gatekeeper

In professional communication systems, a gatekeeper is a person who receives messages and then passes them on to others or may prevent messages from reaching their destination. A gatekeeper can change a message to make it acceptable and compatible with other forms of communications.

The gatekeeper is responsible for interpreting incoming and outgoing messages to determine if they are acceptable. Everyone has been accused of not listening or just hearing parts of a message. When conflicts arise, some folks will say anything to win regardless of the harm it causes to their relationships.

In every possible circumstance God provides us with two special helps for utilizing our internal gatekeeper. One is the voice of conscience and the other is the work of the Holy Spirit. Each makes us aware of what is acceptable and what should be rejected. As we comply with these promptings, we are blessed and affirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us confidence in our gatekeeper.  

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A [person’s] conscience is the Lord’s searchlight exposing his hidden motives.  

~Proverbs 20:27 The Living Bible

 

If we follow our desires, we cannot please God. You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God’s Spirit, who lives in you.

~Romans 8:8-9 Contemporary English Version

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The Voice of Conscience

Making significant choices in moments of vulnerability has been everyone’s experience. Being vulnerable to praise and flattery, even if  pretentious and laced with ulterior motives, identifies those moments. For financial reasons, Delilah deceitfully pretended to love Samson in order to seduce him while being a spy for his enemy. 

Sexual passion has the power to diminish common sense, numb the conscience, and blur spiritual and emotional boundaries. The stronger the voice of sexual passion that is beyond God's boundaries, the more silent becomes the voice of conscience to warn of danger. In this state of mind Samson revealed to Delilah the secret of his strength.

It would be easy to condemn Samson for being so foolish, but have you ever been deceived by passion? Sin charges in full force to steal your voice of reason and logic. God’s word admonishes us to guard our hearts from sin by keeping our minds clear and our hearts tuned to God. He promises to be our shield and defender. 

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Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

~Proverbs 4:23 New Living Translation

 

A good man produces good things from the good stored in his heart, and an evil man produces evil from his evil stored there. What you say flows from your heart.

~Luke 6:45 Beck – New Testament in the Language of Today

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Pardoned - Not Paroled

Whenever the voice of conscience prods a person to seek forgiveness and there’s a positive response to that nudging, that individual has turned from resistance to compliance. Resistance is clothed in anger and fear, while compliance is wrapped in faith and hope. God created your conscience to be a light for moral and spiritual choices.  

Saying yes to your conscience is saying yes to God and life.  When the Prodigal Son came home with a repentant attitude, his forgiving father proclaimed with joy, "My son was lost and is now found, was dead, but is now alive."  Repentance that marshals in forgiveness liberates the burdened heart to explore life free from the chains of guilt and sorrow.

When God forgives you, he doesn't put you on parole to test your rehabilitation. Instead, he has pardoned you, which means you are no longer held accountable to God for previous sins - although society will hold you accountable. Forgiveness promises a pardon for past sins, so you can fulfill God’s future for yourself.  

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Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

~Isaiah 55:6-7 New International Version

But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 
~Psalm 130:4 New International Version