A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE

When Douglas committed his first grave sin the day before Sunday, he was afraid to go home. He dreaded going to church the next day because he feared his prophet friends and the minister in charge would find him out and speak about it. He moved with caution when he went to church, doing his best to avoid his very spiritual friends. But in a small congregation like theirs, there was no hiding place: they all found him, and they had a very smooth and safe conversation – nothing out of the ordinary was mentioned, and nothing about his activities were hinted at in the conversation. When they parted ways, he heaved a sigh of relief.

The next time he sinned, he was more confident than the first time. Again, he went to church expecting that his spiritual friends would comment about it or even try to advise him about the course his life was taking. Again, there was nothing. They treated him just as they always have – as a sweet brother in the Lord. He asked himself, “Are they really people of God? Do they honestly have the Spirit of God which discerns sin?” He doubted strongly that God revealed anything to them – if God did reveal things to them, He should have told them about his activities.

It became very easy for Douglas to go about his worldly affairs after that, believing that God was not seeing him, and even if He was, He wasn’t telling anyone like He did in the days of Peter and Paul and Elijah. His friends continued to speak with him.

Then Douglas began to feel guilty. It was not a matter of God revealing anything to his friends as it was a matter of his own attitude towards his life and his relationship with God. As time went by, Douglas reassessed his opinion concerning God and he realized the following:

• ·         God would not reveal his activities to anyone unless it was necessary.
• ·         What he did or did not do was not the business of his spiritual friends; it was between him and his God.
• ·         Change did not come because a spiritual friend saw you committing an offense: change came only when you heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit through your conscience that you are on the wrong path.
• ·         Feeling guilt is an indication that your conscience is functioning and change is possible.
• ·         It was better to stay on the right track with God than try to please men and deceive God with lip-service.

In the end, Douglas concluded that there was power in God and those He enables, but the power of transformation lay in his will to listen to his conscience and do the right thing. After all, it was a matter of conscience.