The New Church idea of conscience is very different from the popular conception. One might expect conscience to be portrayed by such stories as the inner voice that tells Abram to go into the desert to worship God by sacrificing his son. Or perhaps conscience is to be illustrated by the prophet Nathan who comes to David and, by means of a story about a poor man and his only lamb, exposes David’s sin in having Uriah killed in battle so that he could have Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
Human beings all seek joy in their life, although there are many who don’t know what genuine joy is. And all humans desire to be favored by others, although too many of us do not seek the favor of the Lord. And you are here today in part because deep in your spirit is the desire to have the Lord present in your life.
What are you afraid of? The dark? Walking down a dark street at night? What your future will be? That you will die in a horrible way? Do you fear the loss of honor and reputation, or the loss of your material possessions? These are fears perhaps shared by us all. But there is another class of fear that is represented in the Word by the expression “fear of God.”
From the Word: “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you…. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.
We all have goals, some larger and long term, some smaller and short term. We are willing to make sacrifices to achieve our goals. We are willing to give up self-gratification; and our point of view; even our opinion, if it will make the difference. We spend a great deal of energy figuring out how to achieve our aspirations, noble and base.
You are a good person. You aren’t in prison. You are held in some esteem in your community. You are agreeable and pleasant to be with. You can use common sense as well as intelligence and specialized training. You have a certain amount of knowledge and can use it effectively. And you have control over the powers of the lower, external, physical parts of your self. This is the Namaan in all of us: our natural man.
