“Live Your Pledge Of A Good Conscience Toward God!”

“Live Your Pledge Of A Good Conscience Toward God!”
The flood did not purge the world of wickedness and evil as it was intended. Noah the righteous soon got drunk and laid naked. His son Ham came in and saw his nakedness.This became a reason to curse Canaan even when it was his father Ham who saw Noah’s nakedness. A curse that was to justify racism and enhance black enslavement (Gen 9:18-27).
The evil that was in the world could not be purged by the flood because evil resides in the heart of man. Every inclination of man’s heart is evil from childhood (Gen. 8:21b).
There was need for an alternative that could purge the world of sin: the sacrificial love of God made feasible in grace through the death of his only begotten Son.
“Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous…” for our sake. Even though he was put to death in the body, “he was made alive by the Spirit.”
The flood was a kind of baptism to the eight who were saved. The water of the flood “symbolizes baptism that now saves us also…”
However, baptism is “not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God;” and it saves us “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone to heaven and is at God’s right hand – with the angels, authorities and powers in submission to him” (I Pt.3:18-22).
Herein lies the importance for you and I:
For evil and wickedness to be eradicated from the world we must constantly be reminded that our baptism is “the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” A good conscience toward God must of necessity be a good conscience toward fellow humans because “God is in the ‘Other'” person.
Baptism saves by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is where angels, authorities and powers are in submission to him. Those who are in Christ are above the angels because they are going to judge the angels (I Cor.6:3).
Since powers and authorities are in submission to Christ, whoever is in Christ is above such authorities and powers. Whoever seeks after them is dining with the devil and is lacking “the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” It is necessary to constantly remind ourselves of these things so that we can learn to be good.
Prayer: Holy Spirit help me today to make any decision or take any action with the pledge of a good conscience toward God. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!