How do we get confidence before God? This daily devotional shows the relationship of our conscience and our heart, which leads to confidence.
Nuggets
- A clear conscience comes from a good heart, which gives us confidence before God.
- The goal for all disciples is that our heart does not condemn us.
- When we answer the three questions God’s way, we can have confidence before Him.
- We are justified before God when we have confidence.
Devotions in the Reassuring Our Hearts before God series
Our hearts condemn us when we sin. Our goal is to have no condemnation.
When we have no condemnation, we have confidence in our relationship with God.
Let’s look at what John tells us about that.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
The heart houses our inner moral character and our conscience.
Our conscience is the part of our nature that pronounces by God’s authority everything in His name and impacts our moral decisions as it points us to what is right and gives us pain or pleasure depending on the choice.
Beloved
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (I Jn. 3: 21-22 ESV)
A clear conscience comes from a good heart, which gives us confidence before God.
Verse 21 started out identifying the audience. John was talking to the beloved — other disciples who are especially loved of God and His disciples.
John was not talking to worldview people who do not believe in God.
If Our Heart Does not Condemn Us
The goal for all disciples is that our heart does not condemn us.
On what is our hearts condemning us? It is the answer to these questions.
- Do we believe that Jesus is our Savior?
- Do we genuinely love not only God but also other disciples?
- Are we obeying God’s laws and commandments?
Spurgeon made a good point. The evidence to condemn us or acquit us is already there. God doesn’t have to go hunting for it.
Resource
In fact, it is imperative that we discern the answer to these questions. Discernment means we can evaluate the situation and recognize right from wrong.
We are going to be tempted many times by Satan after conversion. We have to prove that we are God’s children.
Glossary
We can’t just rest on the fact that we have made a profession of faith. Are we living out that profession?
Look at the questions again. The Essex Remembrancer reminded us that does it say we are condemned because we are harboring sin? Does it say neglecting seeking God — praying, studying His Word, etc. — condemns us?
No.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Does it ding us for being self-righteous? Not really.
Resource
What we have to be is sincere. We have to kick the morals up to spiritual graces.
We aren’t just talking actions, either. The evidence includes what we have thought about.
It won’t take God long to reach the verdict. He uses His laws and commandments to pass judgment, not the world’s standards.
We won’t be judged on our feelings. We won’t be judged on what we do.
We will be judged on Whose we are.
We Have Confidence before God
When we answer the three questions God’s way, we can have confidence before Him.
When we are talking confidence before God, we are not talking reliance on ourselves. We are talking having done what is right God’s way.
We don’t want to get this backwards. Waterland said that we get the good conscience by having a heart that doesn’t condemn us, not the other way around.
I think that many of us this that we have a good heart by doing what is right. That isn’t the case.
Last year, we talked about being, not doing, as the way to perfection. Same here.
We get a good heart by loving God and following His laws and commandments. Then we get the clear conscience. We can only be confident in God when we have His heart — His character.
But how many times do we get puffed up because we have a good conscience because we are such good people? Being a good person by the worldview standard isn’t going to cut it.
Glossary
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Our actions do not make us good people. There are so many times that our words say one thing, but our actions say the opposite.
Plus, our definition of good is wrong. We have to use God’s definition of good instead of the world’s.
Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people through His holy, pure, and righteous behavior.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
Glossary
However good — sinless — we are is none of our doing. Only God can make us sinless.
Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
Glossary
That means several things.
- We can’t better ourselves.
- We can’t save ourselves.
- We can’t set our own definitions of what is good and evil — and how to get there.
It isn’t about us or opinions at the time, which has nothing to do with our conscience.
We can form wrong opinions by a variety of different means. Waterland said we can form these through wrong
- Education;
- Customs;
- Example;
- Lust;
- Pride; and
- Prejudice.
South argued that it isn’t an easy task to determine the state of our souls. When we do, we are liable to be wrong.
However good — sinless — we are is none of our doing. Only God can make us sinless.
Resource
I can see that. Jesus did say that “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV).
God’s Will is that we get down to the heart level in following His laws and commandments and changing to have His character.
We should want to have our heart level challenged by tests that God sends our way. One, these tests tell us where we are at in our walk with God. Two, these tests strengthen our faith and deepen our dependence on Him.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Waterland countered that — too many times — we don’t try to evaluate our standing with God. He wrote, “It is deceiving ourselves to imagine that we have a good conscience when we have used no reasonable care in examining whether it be a right conscience or not.”
Resource
God’s laws and commandments are right.
South gave us a good reminder. We can go forward during a Sunday morning service, or we can go to confession any day of the week.
No pastor or priest is going to absolve us from our sins. Only God can do that.
We don’t need a go between. We have our heart and our conscience to tell us what is right and what is wrong based on God’s laws and commandments. We go straight to the Source.
Only God can forgive us of our sins.
Forgiveness is, when we ask, the act of God pardoning us because we have shown repentance for breaking His laws and commandments, which allows us to become holy as He is.
- Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
How often, though, do we really have that confidence? Too many times, Satan convinces us that we are doing something wrong. He lies to us and says God doesn’t think we are worthy, even after we have been made worthy by accepting Jesus as our Savior.
We need to see ourselves as God sees us.
To me, faith is all wrapped up into that. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
God tells us that, when we make a genuine profession of faith and live in His Will, He will forgive us of our sins.
Sometimes, we see God working on us. Sometimes, we don’t. But He always is working for us.
Maybe God is working out the situation we need to be changed. Maybe He is softening our hearts.
But God is always working on us to get us to be more like Him. Only when we truly believe that do we get the boldness God gives.
Benefits of Having Confidence before God
We are justified before God when we have confidence.
What this boils down to is our relationship with God is validated. Justification is the act through the merits of Christ that makes us free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
We have done our part to satisfy the covenant. Jesus has already done His part.
This ties up what we were talking about in the last devotion. “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything” (I Jn. 3: 19-20 ESV).
Jesus showed His love for us by going to the cross and being the Sacrifice to save us from our sins.
We have to believe God’s truth in our hearts. Our actions have to follow what we learn in God’s Word.
Because we are devoted to God, we are confident in Him.
Making the Connections
We can’t stress enough that the condemnation is based on God’s ways, not the world’s ways.
The world wants us to tolerate sins. God won’t.
If God doesn’t condemn us, we are living in His ways — right where we want to be. Finney wrote, “While in this state it is impossible that, with right views of God’s character, we should conceive of Him as condemning us. He is a Father, and He cannot but smile on His obedient and trusting children. We cannot conceive of Him as being otherwise than pleased; for, if He were displeased with a state of sincere and full obedience, He would act contrary to His own character; He would cease to be benevolent, holy, and just.”
Resource
God wants to be pleased with us. He cannot, though, change His character to do it our way. We must do it His way.
How Do We Apply This?
- Believe that Jesus is our Savior.
- Genuinely love not only God but also other disciples.
- Obey God’s laws and commandments.
- Be sincere in loving God’s truth.
- Listen to our conscience when it is pointing us God’s way.
- Listen closely to determine the Holy Spirit’s instructions.
- Follow all the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
- Read God’s Word and follow His instructions.
Resource
Getting the confidence needed to the heart level is based solely on the status of our relationship with God. It is dependent on our obeying Him.
Father God. We want to have a genuine, strong relationship with You. We believe Jesus is our Savior. We love You and Your disciples. Help us to obey Your laws and commandments. Amen.
What do you think?
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