DECEMBER 18, 2025 ~ FROM A PASTOR'S HEART

DECEMBER 18 DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READING: JEREMIAH 17:5-10

There are those who would say, "let your conscience be your guide.” That is not good biblical advice...for it is what is in we humans that defiles us...our hearts are deceitfully wicked. Left to our own conscience, we would always go away from God, rather than go toward him. Now there are those who would say that man cannot do good on his own. I am not in that camp; for I have seen lost people do good things on the human level. There is a certain degree, from a human standpoint of goodness in people...that is, unless they are a complete sociopath. But when it comes to holiness, to doing what God would have us do...to doing that which is biblically right, man's conscience is neither the standard nor is it the guide. The best that man can do cannot and does not equate to God's standard of righteousness and holiness.

If man could find his own way to goodness and holiness, there would have been no need for Christ to come...we would have no need of salvation...and there would be no need of the Holy Spirit to indwell us and lead us into all righteousness. In truth, because of our sinfulness we need Jesus to bring forgiveness and new life, and we need the Holy Spirit to guide into the holy walk that God has called each of us to. Without the Holy Spirit, none of us would walk in the way of God. He is the One who guides us into all truth and enables us to walk as the righteous children of God. Without Him this is not possible. It is a humanistic approach to tell someone to let their conscience be their guide. It is a biblical approach to tell them to let the Holy Spirit be their guide. The first will always cause us to fall short of God's standard and purpose...the second will ensure we will be right where the Lord wants us, doing exactly what he has called us to do.

Please share your thoughts.