Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Our conscience is a cognitive process that is based on our value system. When an inadequate understanding of scriptural truths drives our value systems, our conscience is in conflict with God and it steers us away from him. We become prone to unrecognised sins because our value system does not recognise them as sins. Unrecognised sins steal from us the forgiveness and redemptive work of God.
“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind.”
Recognising the Unrecognised
David knew this well. He was a man who knew that God searches people’s heart and examines their mind. That is why he proactively asked God to search him and identify in him sins that cause offence to God. His cry to God to validate his value system is what is recorded in Psalm 139:24.
“take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”
Unnoticed and unrecognised sins do their secret work in the hidden parts of our soul. Left unchecked they will operate under the surface and lead us away from God, eventually destroying us. Like David, we too must ask God to examine our thoughts, attitudes and heart’s desires and then to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. A conscience oriented by God and the truth of his word will draw us towards God. Such a conscience will spot everything that causes offence to God, and when with God’s help we identify and then confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Christ died for sin. Believers die to sin. Unbelievers die in sin.
When we recognise sin as God does, we will find nothing amusing or humorous about it. Seeing the price Christ paid for our sin will remind us that it is no laughing matter. When we bring our sins to the light, they lose their power over us, we die to sin; however, when they go unrecognised, we are destroyed by them. A willingness to find, address and deal with unrecognised sin is a trait that should mark every Christian.
