Voices in My Head

I have always liked the sneaky, devious types of senses of humor.  If a joke is thoughtful or playful, it is more pleasing, at least to me.  Having said this, I have always thought of a joke I wanted to play on a doctor, if I ever took a psychiatric evaluation:

DOCTOR:  "Do you ever hear voices in your head?"

ME:  "Yes.  All the time......  It's called my conscience!"

I told this to a colleague at work one time. His response was "How do you know that isn't the right answer?"
The only thing worse than having a devious sense of humor is being bested by another person with a similar sense of humor!

However, the point to be made here is that we all have an inner voice that speaks to us called the conscience.  It is a magnificent work of God.  It is our moral compass; that can keep us out of trouble and woe.  We find that everyone has a conscience and holds us accountable to right and wrong (Romans 2:11-15   
Our conscience is precious and will guide us to right, provided we don't damage it  1 Timothy 4:1-2. 
Think about it.  That inner voice that tells us in the middle of a conversation "Don't say that..."   or "Watch what you're looking at"  ". . . don't eat that it's bad for you. . ."  The conscience is great for keeping us out of all sorts of trouble.  Think about a possible argument that can easily escalate into a physical fight.  Where is the tipping point?  (Proverbs 17:14 )   We will usually feel an inner check to tell us to walk away, change the tone or shut up before that tipping point.  It is hard to follow when tensions are flared, and once beyond that point, we may not be able to go back from the results that follow (compare Proverbs 17: 14 to Proverbs 15:1).  But all along, the conscience was there. 

I find it amazing that in the studies of the Martial arts we find an interesting adage by the Chinese general Sun Tzu:  “The supremeart of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”   Compare Proverbs 17:14 and 18:19 “ A brother offended is harder to be won than astrong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” ). Conflicts will come and go, but is it necessary to escalate an argument to force?  Oh how many times did well intentioned disputes become more than what they should have been!  A question arises: What caused the fight?  Was it the tongue or the brain?  Or, more to the point the pride?  (James 1:26  Proverbs 13:10)  If we look at James chapter 1 and Romans chapter 2 in context, they both mention the order and rules of religion and God.  If applied properly, the escalation of hostilities will diminish!





Perhaps this is the best thought for the weekend!