CONSCIENCE

In the early 1980s, an Avianca Airlines jet crashed into a mountain in Spain.  Reports said the black box cockpit recorder revealed that a few minutes before impact the automatic warning system told the crew repeatedly to 'Pull up ... pull up ... pull up!'

The pilot, annoyed by the racket, thinking it was a malfunction, switched the system off -- minutes before the plane plowed into the side of a mountain.  The entire crew and passengers died.

You have a little black box inside of you.
You have an automatic warning system inside of you.

We can treat it one of two ways -- listen and respond to it -- or be annoyed with it, shut it off, ignore it and wait for a crash.

The amazing wisdom of secular society today counsels us to switch off our internal accountability system whenever we're plagued with guilt or bad feelings.  It tells us those feelings are almost always personally hurtful, if not flat out wrong.

But is that so?

Your little 'black box' is called your conscience.  Your conscience isn't really the voice of God.  Puritan Richard Sibbes said:  'The conscience is the soul reflecting on itself.'

But it has been taught and trained to get a particular reflection.  It didn't get it on its own.  It learned what to mirror.  It was programmed what to reflect back.

Because of that it's critical to get God's standard for holiness, purity and Godliness into our hearts.  Anything less reflects inaccurately, poorly, and dangerously.

In fact, your conscience can become so out of whack that it actually mirrors back that you ought to be lying, cheating or gossiping.  It can make you think that if you aren't getting drunk, having sex outside of marriage, or cheating someone that there's something wrong with you compared to everybody around you.

To get your conscience to mirror back properly, feed it regularly on the richness of truth -- from God's Word.  Establish His law deep inside your heart.

When you do, your conscience will work the way God meant it to work.  It will steer you, protect you, guard you and cause you to walk paths that are healthy, good and honorable.

And be blessed.