1 Corinthians 4:4 "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me."NIV
"For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this;" NKLV
"For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified:" KJV
"For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted." ESV
"My conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove I'm right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide" NLT
Lord, sometimes seeing all of the different translations helps in my understanding. In this case, the KJV seems to have a different meaning than all of the others. Even the NKJV does not seem to say the same thing. On the one hand we see that Paul is saying that he knows nothing BY himself then follows with somewhat of a question, "yet am I not hereby justified". All of the rest say in essence that Paul has searched himself and has found no apparent sins, but You know more than he does about the deep reaches of his heart and mind and will judge him aright.
Lord, I know there are sins I commit daily, usually of "omittion", that my conscience does not pick up on. My conscience can become calloused and even seared. I would pray that Your Spirit would bring to mind the sins I have committed so I could confess them and repent. There may have been a careless word or selfish thought and action I did not catch.
I know that You are the only one who can judge the hearts of men so even if my conscience is clear, that doesn't prove I'm right either. I pray I would not be like the Pharisees, as that would be prideful, but leave the judging of my motives and those of others to You!
I love You, Lord, and am so very thankful that You can see everything in everyone relieving us of that job! I admit it is a little scary that You know my deepest thoughts and intents if they are not what they ought to be, but I thank You that You have paid the price for those sins and I can confess, repent, and be restored...not thrown out into utter darkness forever separated from You.
No comments:
Post a Comment