“I have always lived before God in all good conscience.” Acts 23:1 NIV
“Your conscience is a God-consciousness – an inner sense of right and wrong.”
My thoughts today are about “right and wrong.”
Your lifestyle and well-being is greatly affected by your ability to differentiate between right and wrong. That’s pretty important, don’t you think? Much of that can be ingrained by the wise and helpful instruction of others; but a sense of such knowledge seems also inborn, the product of a God consciousness in your heart. That is your conscience – an inner sense of right and wrong. If you do what your heart knows is right, you will never go wrong.
There are things you won’t have to be told; somehow, you will just seem to understand them innately. Listen to your heart and conscience; don’t ignore the warnings. That inner discomfort is God’s grace to spare you from needless hurt and loss. Every compromise, however small, is costly to your soul and invites greater violations. Each time you ignore that inner voice, its clarity and influence grows weaker.
Knowing right from wrong is so basic to everything good that you wish to be, but not everyone has learned to listen to God in their heart. How does that happen? The Bible explains, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4:17 NIV. There is a developmental danger when a person knows the right thing to do, but chooses to do what’s wrong, anyway. Doing so violates your conscience, and a violated conscience becomes gradually weakened until eventually ineffective.
There are two things that you want as regards your conscience; you want a conscience clear and clean. “Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.” 1 Timothy 1:19 NLT. Can you envision the tragic image that description suggests? A shipwreck is a terrible thing, almost always with loss of precious lives and valuable property. It usually results by unwise choice or unforeseen circumstance that placed a ship where it was not made to be, safely.
Such wreckage is a terrible scene indeed, but nothing compared to the spiritual wreckage and needless devastation of lives, both the guilty and innocent – a marriage restored; a career destroyed; a good name sacrificed; a life-potential never realized; a priceless eternity squandered.
May your Godly resolve be as clear as Paul expressed, “I have hope in God . . this being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men . . we are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.” Acts 24:16 NKJV/Hebrews 13:18 NIV. Any exception to righteousness that you excuse leaves you vulnerable to spiritual deception and growing error.
How do you develop and keep a clear and clean conscience to know right from wrong? You have the Bible with its clear and relevant truth to teach you (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV); you have the Holy Spirit resident within you to guide you (John 16:13 NIV); you have Godly people around you to help and encourage you (Hebrews 10:23-25 NIV). Anyone or anything that contradicts or would compromise those is not in your best interests.
My prayer for you today is to have an ungrieved spirit, sensitive to God’s voice within.