I'm wondering if any of you have ever found your "boat" up a tree ... damaged ... out of commission ... shipwrecked? Read this verse written by Paul to Timothy:
"Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked." ~ 1 Timothy 1:19
I am hoping that you are you willing to share with me - anonymously if you prefer - a time that you deliberately violated your conscience. What were the results of that action? What did it do to your faith? Have you moved past it? How did you get your boat sailing again?
I'll be thinking a lot about this over the next few weeks as I work on some writing and some teaching I'll be doing, so I'd really love to hear your thoughts on keeping a clear conscience. Oh, and let me know if its OK to quote you. :)
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ReplyDeleteIf I could relate a moment that's not necessarily spiritual, but it can certainly parallel...
ReplyDeleteI had just finished my weight loss journey and was now down 45 lbs. (goal weight) The Never Ending Pasta Bowl had come back to the Olive Garden and my husband convinced me to have dinner there (it wasn't that hard). I knew I should've stopped after the first bowl (violated my conscience), but I kept on going - not only once but two or three more bowls - along with the salad and breadsticks. I was sick the rest of the evening and into the next morning - by the time the following night came I was in the emergency room with food poisoning (can anyone say glutton?)(results of that action). Now it didn't make me gain back the 45 lbs. I had lost, but it did set me back as far as how my diet had become a nice pattern of taking care of myself (what it did to my faith).
So, it's not that I never eat pasta again, I just know when it's time to stop - learned from my mistake. Got back on the boat to healthy eating.
I know it's not something deeply spiritual - but isn't it great how God can use our everyday experiences to learn something new about our walk with Him.
Hi Dorothy Champagne...isn't that just the way the enemy works...enticing us with something that on first sight doesn't seem to be harmful...then the consequences of our choices...add to that the guilt that can sometimes accompany those choices...but how awesome is our God that what the enemy means for evil God turns for our good...it sounds like you are even stronger than before and more aware of the wiles of the enemy...it is difficult once the enemy engages us in discussions...whether audible(through persons good or other intentions) or just in the mind...that moment in time when we choose to ignore our conscience...the second it takes us to even consider something that could cost us shame, guilt, food poisoining...I do see your circumstance as spiritual...you just may be one of those people who don't have to travel far down the wrong path to discover it's the wrong path...you may just be someone who knows how to keep a short account with God. Praise God!
ReplyDeleteBe Blessed
In His Love,
Debrah
Actually, just recently. A conversation with a co worker that started innocent ended up into a very bad situation. I felt my conscience tell me no this isn't right. I purposely ignored it, and ended up costing myself internal and external pain. My relationship with the Lord was broken, and I felt cast away from His presence the next few weeks were rough. I had come so far in my walk with the Lord and I felt I back tracked so much because of this mistake. My faith was shipwrecked. I am moving past it, God is healing my heart and building my faith. I know He is all I need. I know He is the only one that won't hurt me. Now I take relationships more seriously with friends and more than friends. I take caution with whom I let into my life. I also try to listen to my conscience, and follow God's path.
ReplyDeleteI still am suffering the consequences for my mistakes. The Lord is good though and filling my life with His hope and love.
- Always,
Ashley /FL
(ps yes Rachel if you find anything useful, you have my permission to quote)
before i was married, i lived with one of my boyfriends even though i knew it was wrong. i walked away from my faith, though i still believed, to fullfill, or so i thought, my flesh, when really it was all a lie from satan. during this time i was so far from God and not proud of this time of my life. i can remember 3 different instances when the Lord was telling me to go home and i totally ignored him. thank the Lord for a praying mother! i had know idea that this was what she was praying for! that i would hear his voice and follow. i can still to this day see myself brushing my hair in the mirror in the bathroom and the Lord telling me " christi, pick up the phone, call your mom and go home" i listened and he has truely blessed me for it! isn't it great that we serve a God that gives us 2nd, 3rd and even 4th chances even if we don't deserve it! thank you Lord Jesus for loving me enough to not give up on me and for showing me just how special i really am!
ReplyDeletei am not sure if this is what you were looking for but the Lord placed this on my heart while i was reading your post. if you would like to use any of this feel free.
blessings ~
Here I am, caught again in a web of my own making. Taxes on the house are due on Friday and I don't have the money. I failed to make my tithe last month because I was so short on funds. This is not a punishment from my Heavenly Father but it is a result of my own folly.
ReplyDeleteI have a terrible time managing the finances. I keep asking for God's help to do better but then I don't follow the advice He gives in His word. I can't count how many times I have been down this road. I truly try to repent but fall back. The Lord has ALWAYS been faithful to make a way. This time my brother is going to help us out. The Lord has been faithful again after my failure.
Please pray for me that I can get on the right track and be more
responsible. I really want to live a righteous life but it cannot be done like this.
Thank you all my sisters in
Christ for your prayers.
Please feal free to quote this if it can help ayone in any way.
Janet
Thanks you for your authenticity, ladies. Satan continually tries to shipwreck us, doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college I made some very poor relationship choices that deliberately went against my conscious. It was like I became my own 'true north' and my relationship with God became so broken and so warped. I was heading in the exact opposite direction I should have been. Only after I was completely shaken did I realize how far I had strayed. Even to this day Satan often finds ways to let those memories sneak up. Always need to be on guard against the enemy.
ReplyDeleteBlessings Rachel...I'm praying that you avoid or better said that all these hurricanes avoid hitting landfall and that our Great God in HIS AWESOME Mercy will reduce their power to a whisper!
ReplyDeleteNow, regarding your question, I'm not sure that I have one or am ready to share one, but I'm sure
that I there's one hiding back in my life history cuz I'm still picking up the debris...but I just wanted to comment, actually share
that just recently I had a conversation about this with a
Lunch shop owner across from a
Jr. Sr. high school down here in Mexico. He remarked that many youth and people here are widely impacted by the media and have NO CONSCIENCE! I've thought about this a great deal lately on and off because being a teacher and being Christian, I can't believe that people have no conscience. Now I guess that's a bit different than a clear conscience! I shared this example of my adopted daughter's when she was in elem. public school. She was being reprimanded for not finishing her schoolwork so she could not go out with the others for recess. I'm sure she lived for her social time with her friends. She also was not able to do an art project that they had done making puppets. She took all
their puppets hiding them in her own desk and even her backpack to bring home. Upon being discovered,
she saw no wrong in what she had done. Though this is a small example, I can look back through all her life so far and trace this same pattern of not recognizing wrong in what she does. Her first 3 years of life, before we adopted her had formed her as a person.
Though she was in a good home, good schooling, good church and church friends, she never escaped what was not instilled those essential years. So, some people, dare I say,
don't have a conscience. Could this explain how some of this jaggedness and hardened hearts we see and the tragedies that have occurred in schools is happening? We are raising a generation with no morale code, or standard, not even a conscience!
I'll think about my own "shipwreck"
but meanwhile I wanted to put that out there! God bless the youth in all of the Americas! Thanks you! Let us PRAISE HIM in the storms!
Keeping a clear conscience for the last month has been quite hard and at times, it got a little cloudy. Sailing thru various storms and some slightly strong storms, trying hard to stay on course has been challenging. But, the holy spirit that dwells in me gives me strength and reminds me of the Lord I serve and HIS power. I refocus, give all my burdens to JESUS and move on in the name of JESUS doing my best to keep my mind, my heart, my soul stayed on HIM.
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed weekend!
LaTonya
Becoming involved with my husband when I did...our first marriages had ended (not as a result of this)but divorce papers were not signed when we came together. It was wrong. It was in brokenness of my sin, our sin that we both found God's grace and He was grown us, blessed us and is now using us in ministry...I am truly humbled.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteEven though I asked Jesus into my heart as a young person I have not always lived a faithful life. I have often followed satan's call. One of the worst was when I had an affair that ruined my marriage. I wound up losing everything but still I had affair after affair. Praise the Lord that he is faithful and just to forgive! I am still living with some of the consequenses of my sin but I know that as long as I have my eyes on the Lord I will get through it.
Hello. I am writing to you all for strenght and encouragement. My husband is a back slider and I know the word of God states that God is married to the back slider. But there are times when I just want to get out of this marriage and just seek the Lord for a closeness like never before. I love the Lord and want to do whatever He called me to be for His Glory. I love my husband too, but feel he is a road block in my life. My husband has not been faithful to me or the Lord and uses drugs and I am so tired of living like this. Please pray for us both and that the Lord's will be done for both of us. God bless. Deb
ReplyDelete