II Corinthians 1:12 “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.”
We all have certain things that make us happy and proud. One of my children recently came home from school thrilled that she had made a good grade on a test that afternoon. At one particular church, we met a remarkable four-year-old boy that could operate a backhoe, shoot a gun, drive a golf cart, and do many other things. He came into his house and proudly exclaimed to his mom, “Momma, I shot me a bird! Do you want to see it?” And he promptly pulled the poor bird right out of his pocket! Though we laugh at this example, we all have little things that bring us joy. In this verse, the thing that brought Paul joy was the testimony of his good conscience.
Notice the words “in simplicity and godly sincerity.” There is something to be said for simplicity of conscience-for the ability to lay in bed at night and not have to wrestle with your own conscience. You can get to the place where you are always trying to manipulate and justify wrong things in your own mind, when right and wrong are really quite simple. Life seems to get pretty complex when we try to live in our own fleshly wisdom, rather than leaning on the grace of God and keeping a sincere and clean conscience. Leaning on God’s grace to live godly brings a sweet simplicity to life.
The end of the verse says that this type of living will be a testimony to those that are in the world as well as other Christians. Many times, we as Christians do not realize how much we stand out and “get noticed” by those who do not know the Lord. I was reminded of this when I was with my family at a restaurant a few weeks ago. The food was bad and the service was extremely slow. I was tempted to really make a point of my dissatisfaction to the waitress; and I guess we could say that I had every right to do just that. But I was reminded that this woman most likely saw us pray over our food and probably noticed the difference in our dress and manner. If I did make a fuss over the food and service, would she be open to reading the tract that was left with the tip? What is most important?
Like Paul, let’s live our lives in simplicity, keeping a good conscience and leaning on the grace of God-this is what the world needs to see from us. This is what will bring us joy: “the testimony of a good conscience.”
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