By Steve Merrill
…keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Let’s talk about those ‘near misses’ we’ve all experienced; the car that changed lanes with no signal, the deer that runs across the road just in front of us, or the item that falls off the truck in adjacent to us. Or a giant boulder falls into our path… When those things have happened to me, my thoughts usually follow this path; “Why didn’t I see that coming sooner? Is my reaction time slipping? EEEEK! Am I losing it?” Life can be full of ‘coulda, woulda, shouldas’. Few things cause Christian Bikers more distress than a nagging feeling that we’re not living up to all of God’s calling on our lives. Either through the processes of our conscience, or the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, we have all experienced times when we knew was something wrong between us and our Lord. ‘EEEEK! Am I losing it.’
News flash! God has given us the ability to ‘keep a clear conscience’ before God. We have through the Bible and the power of the Holy Spirit to live free from regrets, ‘if-onlys, and ‘why didn’t I’s’. You and I can be confident that, even though I might be in a storm, going into a storm, or coming out of a storm (the three states of human experience), my conscience is clear. I’ve rethought my errors, made amends as needed, and accepted responsibility for my own actions. That’s freedom indeed. Even if my conscience is clear, the existence of detractors and critics is a fact of life. There will always be some ‘who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ’. I can’t please every person, even though I can learn from most, even the critic. But I can keep my conscience clear.
Keep in mind that our good behavior is to be “in Christ”. The surrounding culture may not understand why we would rather read and study the Bible, fellowship with other believers, and worship, than pursue sports, leisure, or amusements. To the natural man, it’s all a waste of time. So, keep a clear conscience, whether others like it or not. Then you’ll be done with those ‘coulda, woulda, shouldas’.
“Thank you, Father, that I may have a clear conscience before you. You have told me what is good, and what You require of me; to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Amen.’
Off the main highway: 1 Peter is all about withstanding opposition from the outside. II Peter is all about dealing with the struggles with sin that come from within. Amazing stuff that some old fisherman came up with 2,000 years ago. “Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, [their opponents] were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.” What do our opponents say about us?
