IDEAS AND CONSCIENCE
Going back to the days of the founding of our country, Lord Chatham spoke to Benjamin Franklin about the men who made up, the first Colonial Congress. He viewed them as statesmen and not mere politicians. What made them statesmen and not politicians? Lord Chatham said it was that they knew “...that ideas are the life of a people, that the conscience, not the pocket, is the real citadel of a nation.” How much today we need statesmen and not politicians, individuals who are governed by principles and not by money. It is what our founding fathers knew but, alas, today, so many have forgotten.
Ideas are a way of saying principles. What is the value system that governs a man’s action? Those who decide to follow Jesus the Christ would point to the Bible and declare, without shame, this is what decides my thinking. On one hand, it is recognizing that God, through His Word, has given us all things we need to deal with those matters which pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:3). It is not only recognizing such truths within the Scriptures but it is a willingness to live by those truths in our everyday life (Titus 2:12). Men who established this kind of mindset will conduct their lives a certain way each day. They are men of principles.
It is not a one time act or decision. It is looking at “…this present world” and knowing that each day the Word of the Lord must continue to abide in my heart in order that I might abide in Him (John 15:7). The faith under fire yields the fruit of patience when an individual puts to practice what that faith reveals (James 1:3). It is a Stephen dying by being stoned to death or a James dying by the sword (Acts 7 and Acts 12). Men who would not renounce the faith they had in Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God. It is a man like Paul who would gladly give up everything to win Christ (Philippians 3:8), even if it means death (Revelation 2:10).
A conscience so trained by the entrance of God’s Word into the mind will touch the lives of all around him. We purify our souls by obeying the truth (I Peter 1:22). Would it not follow, then, that we continue to be purified by holding on to the truth we have come to accept? Every doctrine must be tested by what God has revealed (Acts 17:11). Is this from God or from men? This is the dilemma that Jesus put the Pharisees in. He asked them if the baptism of John was from heaven or from men (Matthew 21:25). They could not answer because they had not submitted to being baptized by John for the remission of their sins (Mark 1:4, Matthew 3:8). Would we make the judgment that these were men of principles?
When Judas brought back the money he had received for betraying the Lord, the reply was, “...what is that to us?” (Matthew 27:4). Watch their thinking after Judas had left. They could not keep the money and put it into the treasury because it was the price of blood (verse 6). They had no problem with paying a man to betray Jesus to get Jesus put to death but they could not take the money back. You see, the money was the evidence that these men were not governed by principles from God but rather the storehouse of selfishness on which they had built their lives. Those who for money, power, or position set aside what they believe, will never be men of principles.
How long does it take for principles to become conscience? When surrounded by those who share our value system, we can take courage. The point at which our principles settle in and become a part of our conscience is when we choose to do what is right if there is no one around us. It is like defining character. Character is what you are when no one is around, the individual who battles his infirmities when there is no one around to encourage him to make the right choice. Such battles can lead to victory when we know our High Priest is ever aware of what we are going through, daily (Hebrews 4:15). It is through Him that we gain the strength we need to say “no” to Satan.
Men of principle can argue the faith of Jesus the Christ in book, lessons, blogs, bulletins or any way of communicating the truth. If the truth does not cause us to treat each other in a spirit of love, then our argument of being men of principles simply goes out the window. Our country was founded on the foundation that ideas are the life of a people. The church of Jesus Christ is laid on the foundation, that by this all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one for another (John 13:35).