The Goal of Our Instruction (Part 3)

The Goal of Our Instruction (Part 3)

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: The Goal of Our Instruction (Part 3)-------------- Date: 2/13/2000
Keywords: "conscience" "faith" "heart" "love" "pure"

Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passage: 1 Timothy 1:5*

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Question

Let’s focus on love from a pure heart today. What do you think that means and what does it look like in someone’s life?

Practical help

Yesterday we compared the world’s kind of love to biblical love. The first is a good feeling and the second is a verb describing sacrificial action on behalf of someone else. But sometimes we can do real good things for wrong reasons. For example, I might take time out of my busy schedule to visit an ailing relative. This may appear good, but what if my motivation is to make sure I obtain an inheritance? Someone might say, it’s okay because no one will know, but this isn’t true.

Who will know? God will know, of course. And I might know. Yes, that’s right, it’s not a given that I will be aware when I am deceiving myself and others. This is where a good conscience comes in. If you have a good or healthy conscience, you should quickly become aware of your true motives. However, if you have made a habit of deception, it is very likely you will begin to believe your own lies. Your "justifications" will begin to seem like absolute truth..

How is your conscience? Is it good? Is it working? If you feel guilty for looking at Internet porn, then your conscience is still operational. But you still have to act on what you know is right. And do it quickly, before you loose the ability to discern. Why should you want to do this? Because it is tied to your ability to truly love – love God, love yourself and love others. Any other way of life is a sham – and you know it.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLEŽ, Š Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."