WE SAW YESTERDAY that it was not enough to speak the truth and to speak the truth in love; we must speak the truth in Christ—the highest speaking of the truth, for He is Truth. This needs a further statement to complete it: “my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 9:1). There must be a corroboration that we are speaking the truth in Christ—our consciences must bear witness and that witness of conscience must bear witness in the Holy Spirit.
Conscience by itself is not a safe guide. Conscience is the moral sense which approves or disapproves, but you put into the conscience the standards according to which it approves or disapproves. A Hindu’s conscience is taught to approve of caste; my conscience is taught to disapprove—diametrically opposite standards are given to the conscience for approval or disapproval. Your conscience must be trained in Christ—not by the moral codes of many in the churches. Often moral codes in the churches may reflect the social, economic, and racial attitudes of surrounding society.
Your conscience in Christ must be trained by the Holy Spirit. “He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:15). The Holy Spirit is the interpreter, and the only safe interpreter, of the mind of Christ. A psychiatrist told a woman whose husband had set up a relation with his secretary: “You must accommodate yourself to the situation. You can supply his social and family needs like Martha, and the secretary can supply his spiritual and sexual needs like Mary.” No wonder her moral nature was outraged by this pseudoscientific and pseudoreligious advice.
The Holy Spirit sensitizes our consciences in the school of Christ. He is the pattern after which our consciences are being patterned.
O Holy Spirit, when we are under Thy cleansing tutelage, we are safe. Thou art the Divine Sculptor who makes us after the ultimate likeness of God—Jesus. Take my conscience and cleanse it of false standards and make it a truly Christian conscience. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My conscience will be under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit this day.
