In his new book, Who Told You That You Were Naked?, Andrew uncovers a truth that is often misunderstood: God didn’t originally create us with a conscience. He didn’t create us with an ability to judge ourselves and to constantly evaluate whether we’re right or wrong. He created us in innocence. This helped me realized that if the conscience is God’s plan B for all of us, it’s important to understand the role it plays in our lives.
Reading Andrew’s book took me back to my early years as a Christian. Soon after being born again, I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to confess my sins. I was not sure how to do it on my own, and kidnapping a priest was out of
the question!
With an open heart, I reached out to friends and family who had a heart to hear me. In the beginning, the process brought healing to my heart, and I experienced God’s love through the mercy I was receiving. I was feeling closer to God, because I was leaving my fig leaves behind. But after a while, my efforts to obey God became a burden. A little voice kept telling me that my efforts were not enough, or that I didn’t share with the right people or in the right way. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t quiet that relentless voice that kept reminding me that I was falling short.
Then on one occasion during my prayer time, while I was struggling with my feelings, the Lord reminded me of Matthew 6:22-23. In the Amplified Bible this verse says,
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts.] So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!”
The Lord said to me, “I’m not the one making you feel condemned; it’s your conscience.” Then I realized something: confessing my faults is a good thing, but to keep confessing sin because I don’t understand my redemption
is darkness.
Have you ever struggled with giving your best to God but feeling like your best is not enough?
Andrew’s teaching will help us understand that the conscience came as result of the Fall. God intended for our consciences to help us see that we need salvation; it condemns us. While that is a good thing, we should not stay in that place of condemnation, and in fact, we need to go beyond condemnation to develop a good conscience, a conscience that is spiritually perceptive and full of light.
Andrew explains that one of the things we need to do to cultivate a healthy conscience is to follow Hebrews 10:22 and believe that “we have been sprinkled {with his blood} to free us from a guilty conscience” (God’s Word). This is the joy of our salvation! Faith in the power of His blood will take away all condemnation and all shame, and our consciences will fill us with light!
Andrew’s new book Who Told You That You Were Naked? covers many more aspects of the conscience, and it will help you tremendously to have a conscience that is working for you and not against you! To order your copy, go to store.awmi.net or call our Helpline at 719-635-1111.
For resources and products or to partner in the U.S., visit www.awmi.net; outside the U.S., visit www.awme.net.
