A TENDER CONSCIENCE

"And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Having a tender heart is equivalent to having a tender conscience, and tenderness of con-science is vital to being used by God. In 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul wrote, "But the (Holy) Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach, Through the hypocrisy and pre-tensions of liars whose con-sciences are seared (caute-rized)." It is dangerous to become hard-hearted and to develop a seared conscience. If we do, we cannot really tell whether we are doing anything wrong or not. One way we develop tender consciences is by being quick to repent and avoid excuses when God convicts us of something. When God shows us we did something wrong, we need to say, "You are right, Lord. I am wrong. There is no excuse, so please forgive me and help me not to do it again." It is amazing how much this will help us have tender consciences towards God! But as soon as we start trying to reason things out and make excuses for our wrongs, we start getting callous consciences. It becomes just a little bit harder for us to 'feel' than it was before. For example, if I mistreat some-one and do not repent, my conscience begins to become callous. The next time I do it, my conscience gets a little more callous. Soon, though I go around presenting myself as a person who loves God, He cannot use me anymore because I am mis-treating people in how I talk to them, and behave towards them. The worst thing is that I do not even realize I am doing it, because I no longer have a tender heart and a tender conscience towards God and men. We must remember that God does not care how gifted or talented we are. His primary concern is our heart attitude. If we have willing hearts, stirred-up hearts, wise hearts, perfect hearts, and tender consciences, the devil's plan for destruction is destroyed because then nothing can stop us from being used by God! (The Everyday Life Bible, Commentry by Joyce Meyer, Faith Words, 2006).