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May 9th Strengthening
the Conscience
1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess
knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2The man who
thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3But
the man who loves God is known by God. 4So then, about eating food
sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and
that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods,
whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and
many "lords"), 6yet for us there is but one God, the
Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one
Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 7But
not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols
that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an
idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But
food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no
better if we do. 1 Corinthians 8:1-9 NIV This is an interesting passage concerning the conscience.
It is taken from Paul’s discussion concerning practice of eating food
that was sacrificed to idols. Apparently,
some Christians felt that such food was not to be eaten because of its
association with idolatry. They had
been unable to make the shift in their thinking that regarded God as supreme and
an idol as nothing. They still had
their minds “accustomed to idols,” and their consciences were weak and
defiled. This supports the point that idolatry will
weaken and defile our conscience. Sexual
addiction is a form of idolatry where people idolize sex with their minds and
bodies. The activities
involved with sex addiction (e.g. fantasizing, masturbating, lusting, etc.)
sexualize our thought patterns and weaken our conviction of evil. Just as the idols did in the Corinthians’ minds, sex
addiction helps our minds become accustomed to sexual idols. Some people reach a point where they no longer see
sexual sin as sin. The damage such “sexualization” has on
our conscience is profound. If we
decide to seek freedom from the addiction, we will then discover the extent of
the damage done to our conscience. For
example, it has taken years to heal my tendency of responding with sexual
thoughts when I hear certain words associated with porn depictions. Normally such words are harmless, but when combined with porn
depictions, they open up a whole new world of sexually explicit thinking.
Another issue that I dealt with was
cherishing certain sexual depictions that were clearly sinful. Even after God delivered me from sex addiction, I had to make
conscious decisions to die to my former fantasies every time I was tempted to
think through them. Gradually,
after repeated resistance, my love of those fantasies did die and I recognize
them today as the sins that they are.
I suspect that the amount of recovery time from such “conscience
damage” will depend on the time spent in our former addiction and the strength
of our commitment to walk with Jesus. Even
so, no matter what we may have done, nothing is impossible with God.
God can deliver us and heal us in any amount of time he chooses.
The commitment we must be ready to make is to walk in that freedom,
sowing to the Spirit and no longer to the sinful desires of the flesh.
If you have a weak conscience, you can start restoring it by re-dedicating
your life to Jesus Christ. By
making him Lord of your life, you clear the way for him to help you strengthen
your conscience. You can help
maximize this process by having daily quiet times.
This recurring effort, like physical exercise, will help rebuild your
spiritual stamina. For
more info on building your relationship with God, see our
Freedom
Journey study. Questions for further thought:
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, Thank you for
dying for me on the cross. Please
forgive me for harboring any sin in my life.
Please cleanse my conscience of that sin with the blood of Jesus right
now. I invite the Holy Spirit to
start the renewal process in my conscience today. I want my mind to be
accustomed to God instead of to the idols in my life. I commit to following you,
Lord, each day. I praise you
now and forever. In Jesus’ name I
pray, Amen.” |
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