- “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
- although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 1:12-14 (NKJV)
• God works mainly with our hearts. He Judges based on the motive behind what we do.
- Paul was an injurious man, violently arrogant, who persecuted believers, yet his heart was right (Acts 8:1; 9:1,2).
- Paul thought he was offering service to God when he was persecuting the church.
“They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that WHOEVER KILLS YOU WILL THINK THAT HE OFFERS GOD SERVICE.”
John 16:2 (NKJV) - God who knows all things, including thoughts in a man’s heart, knew Paul was doing it in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13).
- One may be right in his heart, but wrong in his head. Paul’s heart was right, but he was wrong in his head.
• Conscience
- Relate with God in a good conscience. Let your heart be right (2 Timothy 1:3).
- If your head is wrong, but your heart is right, God will have mercy on you. However, if your heart is wrong, you do evil deliberately—God will allow you to suffer for the evil you do (Romans 2:2,3).
- What is the rationale behind what you do? What is your motive in doing it? (Hebrews 13:18).
- God will judge us according to the intent of our hearts (1 Corinthians 4:3-5; 1 Timothy 1:5).
- “who will render to each one according to his deeds.
- For there is no partiality with God.
- in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
Romans 2:6,11,16 (NKJV)
“For our boasting is this: the testimony of OUR CONSCIENCE that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.”
2 Corinthians 1:12 (NKJV)
• Whatever you do, do it with simplicity and godly sincerity—let your conscience judge you right.
- Relate with people in godly sincerity, love ❤️ without hypocrisy, and not with fleshly wisdom (Romans 12:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Timothy 1:5).
- If you live thus, do this, God will defend you.
- If you want to be wise, prove smart, you want to use worldly wisdom in relating with others—it is bound to fail.
“For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
1 Corinthians 1:19 (NKJV)
• Let God defend you. Albeit, He could only do that when your conscience is pure, right, and when you carry Him along in all you do—in your relationship with others.
- Be sincere in dealing with other people, in all your relationship. Let God know all you do and why you do whatever you do (Proverbs 3:5,6).
- “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
- Therefore, putting away LYING, “LET EACH ONE OF YOU SPEAK TRUTH WITH HIS NEIGHBOR.” For we are members of one another.”
Ephesians 4:24, 25 (NKJV)
• God will defend you, defend your integrity, if you carry Him along in all you do.
- The reason why you need to carry God along in relationship with others is that, you may be sincerely wrong (proverbs 16:25).
~ You may be sincere in your dealings with someone, even a believer in Christ, but the person may be a deceiver; thus you need God to reveal the deceitfulness of the person’s heart ❤️ to you—that is the essence of carrying God along in everything.
~ There are false brethren among believers, even in the church (Matthew 7:15).
~ Paul has this to say:
“in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among FALSE BRETHREN.”
2 Corinthians 11:26 (NKJV)
• Some believers become deceitful, live in deceit, because there are wolves in sheep clothing, FALSE brethren in the church.
- There is no experience that can negate the Word of God. You cannot justify, approve, your wrong doing, because some people are wrong. Because some people are false, deceptive, in the church; then you also become deceptive in order to outwit or outsmart them (Matthew 7:15,16).
- You should live in line with the Word of God; however, you should be sensitive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
- If you have a good relationship with the Holy Spirit, He will not allow you to be a prey in the hands of false brethren. Do not try to justify lying and deceptive acts of yours—that you are deceptive because some are in the church who are deceptive also.
• Also, some Christians think if you are honest, truthful, and sincere, other people will take advantage of you—they will think you are naïve, stupid. But it is not true.
“To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.”
Titus 1:15 (NKJV)
- Your perspective about life determines what you experience in life. If you believe nothing is pure, then nothing would be pure. – And in your dealings with people, if you believe everything is pure according to God’s Word, everything will be pure.
• If your mind is defiled, you need to cleanse it with the Word of God (Romans 12:2).
“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind”
Ephesians 4:23 (NKJV)
“But we have RENOUNCED the hidden things of SHAME, NOT walking in CRAFTINESS nor handling the WORD of GOD DECEITFULLY [adulterating the Word of God], but by MANIFESTATION of the TRUTH commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:2 (NKJV)
• If you prove smart, God will leave you with your earthly, sensual, and demonic wisdom (James 3:15).
- Allow God to lead you in everything, even in your relationships with other people. – Serve God with a pure conscience!
• You will not fail in Jesus’ name.
Peace!