Every once in a while a short thought just summarizes something that’s been niggling the back of your mind for years. All the times you’ve tried to put it into words, the words don’t turn out right.
Well, here is a thought from Larry Osborne (as quoted in Men of Integrity devotional from his book, “Ten dumb things smart Christians believe”)
A lot of us imagine our conscience to be a spiritual thermometer. We place it into any situation and it tells us the moral temperature – too hot, too cold, or just right. That’s not how our conscience works. It isn’t a spiritual thermometer. It’s a spiritual thermostat The difference is important. Thermostats don’t define hot or cold. They reflect our definitions of hot and cold.
. . . That’s how the conscience works. It’s a spiritual thermostat. We set it to the standards we choose. It doesn’t tell us if we’re violating God’s standards. It tells us when we’re violating our standards.
. . . And since our conscience is no more trustworthy than the standard it’s calibrated to, we can end up feeling very good about some very bad things.
. . . When rightly understood and functioning properly, our conscience is a valuable early warning device. Like a yellow and red light, it tells us to slow down, be cautious, or slam the brakes. And when it does so, it’s time to check Scriptures before proceeding.