June 7, 2018
Paul: “I admit that I
worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way…so I strive always to
keep my conscience clear before God and man.”
Acts24:14,16
What we worship can
be identified by what our conscience says more than what our mouth says.
For the first 40 years of my life, I was a Cleveland
Browns football fan… (yes, I’m secure enough to admit it!). It hasn’t been a pleasant experience over the
years, watching bad seasons and bad mistakes keep them from getting to a Super
Bowl. But I watched, I rooted, I bought the
hat & shirts, I did what a typical football fan would do in rooting for
their favorite team (within reason).
When we moved to San Francisco, it became easy to start
following the 49ers. I had always liked
them, but also enjoyed seeing a team that regularly competed for playoff
spots. When an old friend started
talking to me years later about the Browns team, I was clueless as to the
roster or the results, and it became obvious my allegiance had changed. While I could say I rooted for the Browns, my
conscience and my behavior said otherwise.
Paul was facing a hostile crowd of judges, all looking for
justification to convict him, yet Paul was unashamed to speak of his devotion
to God and worship of Jesus. It mattered
more to Paul that his conscience was clear before God than to be accepted by
men. That’s because Paul didn’t worship
his own life, Paul worshipped God. The
proof of what he worshipped was seen in the commitment of his conscience to
God.
Most national survey groups say that 60-80% of Americans
claim to be Christians. But the volume
of regular worshippers, or those who profess to read the Bible regularly, or
those who give a percentage of their income to God’s Kingdom are MUCH less than
that number. The significant difference
shows a disconnect between what we claim to worship and what we actually worship. How much MORE would our conscience show the
disconnect.
Praise God that He is a merciful and forgiving God. But that still leaves us with an unclean
conscience to fix. What change is
necessary to make your conscience match your words? How about making that change, so that when
you are challenged, you can speak with a clear conscience about your devotion
to Jesus.
Don’t be a closet fan of Jesus, be a clear conscience
follower of Him. Make your words and
behaviors match.
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