What good would it do you to have a state-of-the-art alarm system, complete with highly sensitive detectors and the finest technical support, if you never paid attention to the alarm?

Over the last few weeks we’ve discussed how to keep your conscience soft, sharp, strong, and clear. But if you don’t pay attention to its warnings—if you don’t act on the information it provides—even the sharpest, strongest conscience is useless. And you have no hope of keeping your conscience truly clear if you're not using it to root out and destroy the sin it alerts you to.

We cannot afford to take a lackadaisical approach to dealing with the sin our consciences uncover. We can’t put it on a spiritual to-do list and get to it when it's convenient.

Through Christ’s sacrifice we’ve been freed from bondage to sin. But we’re still waging a constant battle against our flesh and the old habits, temptations, and tendencies that remain within us. As Paul says in Romans 8:13, believers must be constantly “putting to death the deeds of the body.” We must be ruthless, thorough, and precise when it comes to dealing with indwelling sin.

Over the next few days we’re going to look at what it means to kill the deeds of the flesh, and how to respond biblically to the warnings of our consciences.