The centrality of a clear conscience. Dan Holland considers.
It struck me recently how many times the word ‘conscience’ is mentioned in the New Testament – 29 times. It’s not something I’d focussed on before. A good conscience before God is worthy of investigation!
CONSCIENCE, A NATURAL GIFT
We are all given a conscience and have an innate knowledge of what is right and what is evil, For this reason people, no matter how dysfunctional their upbringing, know when wrong is being done to them, and how things should be. Paul unpacks this in Romans 1, this awareness being God given, and a great gift to us as we navigate our ‘sea of humanity’. Even a young child knows good from bad, and if they are ‘stealing’ something like a biscuit.
The most terrifying eventuality is when our conscience is so seared that it ceases to work (1 Tim 4:2). We drive headlong into evil, no matter how dark. Although Pharoah was not a believer in God, we see him setting his will against God and against God’s People. Eventually God allows this, ‘but Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen’ (Ex 8:19b). Finally, God withdrew from Pharoah, allowing Him to travel the direction he had set himself.
God forbid that, like Pharaoh, we allow our conscience to become so hardened and so set against God. Quite the opposite, I pray my conscience is so attuned to God I know immediately if He is displeased; and conversely, when He is pleased.
CONSCIENCE SUPERCHARGED AT REBIRTH
If and when we make Jesus our Saviour and Lord, we are born again of water and the Spirit, and our conscience is washed and ‘supercharged’. We should therefore be constantly navigating with our renewed conscience to point us forward towards truth and obedience. The Bible cannot, and does not, give us a specific precedent for every circumstance that life throws at us – but rather it gives clear principles to follow. Our conscience is to be highly valued in steering us, although Paul also acknowledges that it is not infallible,
My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:4)
A clear conscience is a good indicator of when we are truly walking with God, likewise a clouded conscience will warn when we begin to go astray. Of course we are all on a journey of ‘sanctification’, and there are untoward things in our lives to which God has not yet drawn our attention, but that is something rather different. Our conscience is continually ‘sensitised’ by obedience to God, being progressively aligned and conformed to His will. In his epistles Paul repeatedly tells his readers of his good conscience before God (Acts 23:1, Acts 24:16, Romans 9:1-2, Cor 1:12, 2 Tim 1:13). Paul clearly held this to be of vital importance personally, and something his ‘children in the faith’ should aspire for themselves.
THE INCREASE OF LAWLESSNESS
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (Matt 24:12).
Just last week there was a horrific stabbing at a train station near where I live. Ten people were injured. There is much that can and should be said about this but one thing it marks is the increased lawlessness of the society in which we live. When there are truly diabolical events like this we might be tempted to lower our standards in everyday life. It’s difficult not to harden our consciences, just a little bit, to survive around so much lawlessness. We musn’t do this, the two things are connected, even if only distantly.
My friend and I were enjoying breakfast in a local café and people from the market came in and helped themselves to coffee from the dispenser without paying. I told the waitress who seemed to be irritated with me, rather than grateful. ‘Well, we’re not going to bother about a few pounds, or chase them for that’. What would her manager say about that – her reaction indicated someone with no personal investment in, or loyalty to, the business.
On one level, what are a few pounds here and there, especially if it avoids unpleasantness? But hang on, stealing is stealing – whether it be a few pounds of tens of thousands! This is how I was brought up and how we are today bringing up our daughter. If she stole something from a shop, however small, we would take her straight back to the shop to apologise, and make it right. My conscience would not allow me to brush it off. I’ve sometimes been back to businesses to say that I wasn’t charged for something, not because I’m a super saint, but because my conscience is troubled and my relationship with God is more important.
So, that lawlessness of stealing a few pounds of coffee from a business in broad daylight allows, over time, an environment where eventually the horrors of a mass stabbing can happen; small matters count. Good choices shape and quicken our conscience – and the opposite is also true. It’s naïve to expect that we’ll suddenly do the right in a ‘big’ matter if we haven’t learnt to obey in ‘the everyday’.
KEEPING FAITH THROUGH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
Our spiritual health thrives as we follow our ‘awakened’ consciences. If our conscience is troubled then our prayers are hindered. Our actions will then lack conviction, and we find we are unable to raise our hands in exuberant worship (1 Tim 2:8). ‘Everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Rom 14:23b). How many Christians are heavy and lifeless in a ‘worship’ service, unable to engage because their conscience is troubled, and the devil has ridden in on this with paralysing condemnation?
Let us listen to our conscience, no matter how dark the lawlessness around us. Let us walk ever closer with God!
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Daniel Holland is Lead Missionary with Through Faith Missions. https://tfm.uk.endis.com/
Dan wrote “Through The Tunnel – Free at Last” published by PUSH Publishing, as his personal testimony. His second book “Prophetic Evangelism – Kingdom Exploits in the Risk Zone” has recently been republished in its third edition: https://christian-publications-int.com/PropheticEvangelism.html . He has recently developed fresh material on Discipleship.
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