CAC LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017

CONSCIENCE DEVOID OF OFFENCE

READ COLOSSIANS 3:12-15

MEMORISE: Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:13)


Some people claim that man can overpower his conscience. If this claim is true, it still does not rule out the place of conscience, which God silently uses to review, appraise man’s outward and inward ways of life. It remains the monitor that exposes all our feelings, positive or negative, whether acknowledged or not! To a Christian, conscience is not enough without being empowered by Holy Spirit who bears true witness (1 Cor 12:3).

‘Offence,’ in today’s devotion, is a particular ill-feeling or upsetting emotion, orchestrated by oneself or another person, at a particular point in time. In our relationships, interactions and adaptations, we part to meet and meet to part with people from varying cultures, religions, backgrounds, races and colours. There cannot but be offences from these. In the early church, had God not led the leaders to be proactive, the crisis resulting from the agitations of a particular group would have torn it into shreds! (Acts 6: 1ff).

Whatever offence or sin others have committed against you in the past or present, God commands that you forgive them (Matt 6:15). So, don’t harbour ill feelings against anybody. It is human to err, including you. When you’re hurt, choose to forgive. Pray for the grace to let go of the offence, no matter how hurting it is. Choosing to free your offender from his indebtedness is to be like our forgiving Lord Jesus (Psa 32:5; Col 3:13). Paul says, This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men (Acts 24:16). What do you say?


PRAYER POINTS:

1. Oh Lord, baptise me with spirit of forgiveness.

2. Oh Lord, I release today, everyone I have been bitterly harbouring in my heart for offences they committed against me.

3. Oh Lord, destroy the tendencies of vendetta among our political elites.


EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Micah 1 - 4