Is Conscience a Safe Guide?

Introduction

What do George Washington, Jiminy Cricket, and Marvin Gay have in common? They all said, “Let your conscience be your guide.” But today I want to explore if your conscience is really a safe and reliable guide.

Acts 23:1 ESV

1 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.”

Acts 24:16 ESV

16 So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

What is Conscience?

Men will often say let your conscience be your guide, so let’s take a moment and consider “What is conscience?”

Merriam Webster calls it “the part of the mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong.”

George Washington called it “That celestial spark in your breast.”

Robert Browning called it “That great beacon-light God sets in us all.”

We each probably have our own ideas about what a conscience is and how it guides us, and my idea may be different from yours. For example, I may have no trouble driving by that man standing on the corner with the hand lettered cardboard sign that says, “Anything helps, God Bless,” but you may have difficulty doing so.

Or think of it this way: hunger tells us it is time to eat, but hunger does not tell us what we should eat. Conscience tells us to “Do right,” but it does not tell us what is right.

In 1891, two trains collided head-on in Ohio because a conductor’s watch was four minutes slow. It was April 18, near Kipton station, 40 miles west of Cleveland, Ohio. Fast mail train #14 collided with the Toledo Express. Number 14 was running at full speed, and the Toledo express had almost reached the siding where it would traditionally pull over and let the fast mail train pass.

You see both conductors had a watch, but one of the conductors’ watches was four minutes slow, causing the mistiming of the slower trains arriving on the siding to allow the faster train to pass, causing a tremendous collision that cost nine lives.

What does this have to do with conscience? Conscience is like a watch. There is a standard for correct time.

That collision in 1891 caused a new standard to be set in the way we set our watches. Before this each town usually had its own time standard, maybe a clock in a storefront, or the clock in the church steeple. After this, the railroad set the official time. It resulted in the time zones that we know now, and the bureau of standards time that we set our watches to. It made it so we could calibrate our watches and all of us be on the same time.

There is a standard for time, and there is a standard for conscience. So, I ask again...

Is conscience a safe guide?

Conscience, like our watches, must be calibrated to a standard. The standard that we use to calibrate our conscience is contained in Scripture. We learn what is right from Jesus Christ.

Before his conversion to Christ, Paul followed his conscience in persecuting the church. He had no guilt about persecuting these followers of Christ. He felt he was doing the Lord’s work in putting down this blasphemous rebellion that was going on. You see Paul’s watch was set to Pharisee time.

Acts 9:1–2 ESV

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Those “belonging to the Way” were the followers of Jesus. So, when did Paul reset his watch? He reset his watch after an encounter he had on this trip to Damascus.

Acts 9:3–6 ESV

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

That made a believer out of Paul. That’s when Paul set his watch to Jesus’ time.

Early in his ministry Peter occasionally still had his conscience calibrated to the Jewish standard time instead of the Christ standard time.

Acts 10:9–16 ESV

9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

George Bernard Shaw said “There is nothing more dangerous than the conscience of a bigot.

And Mark Twain said “A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.”

You may have a dependence on your conscience, but your conscience needs to be informed, or calibrated, in the right manner.

Titus 1:15 ESV

15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

But, Peter and the apostles also often had their consciences calibrated to Jesus.

Acts 5:27–32 ESV

27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Every man should obey his conscience, but he must make sure that his conscience is informed by Christ.

How shall conscience be enlightened as to what is right?

I want to submit six things we can do to ensure our conscience is set to the right time.

1. Study God’s Word.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It says “that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Scripture is such an essential. You will not be complete or equipped without it. If the air conditioner in your house goes out, and you call a repairman in to fix it, you expect him to come with the proper tools to do the job. You expect him to have some knowledge and experience regarding air conditioner systems to be able to fix it. Why do we neglect this in our Christian lives. Why do we not make studying God’s word a priority in our lives so that we may be complete and equipped for every good work?

2. Doing right when the right is revealed.

You know we often face situations where we know what is right, but we don’t do what is right. Maybe doing what is right is inconvenient, maybe doing what is right might cost us something.

How many times are we considering doing something and we take this look around. If we have to check to see if anybody is watching, that should be a warning that we may be getting ready to make a mistake.

It can work the other way too. Sometimes we look around to make sure someone is watching before we do the right thing, so we get credit for it. Like the Pharisees who make public offerings so everyone can see what great givers they are.

You may find that no one is watching, but there is one that you cannot hid from, one who sees your every move, one who knows your thoughts before you even think them.

C. S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

Ezekiel 33:30–31 ESV

30 “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ 31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.

James 1:22 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said “The time is always right to do what is right.”

3. Praying to God

1 Thessalonians 5:14–17 ESV

14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,

Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing. I really think it is a good idea to have a prayer closet. I think it is helpful to have a time and a place where you can go to devote your entire mind to a conversation with the Lord. But that is not the only place you can pray. I think pray without ceasing means having a dialog with God going on in our mind no matter what we are doing. You know how sometimes you have a song going on in the back of your mind and you can’t seem to get rid of it. We should concentrate on having that same kind of dialog going on with the Lord as we go about our everyday life.

4. Obeying God

John 7:17 ESV

17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

This is a good point to consider, am I doing the Lord’s will, or am I speaking on my own authority? The only way you can be certain that you are doing the Lord’s, and that you are not speaking on your own authority is to cultivate some of these other things we have been talking about. Like studying God’s word and praying and yielding to the Holy Spirit. Those are the things that keep us in the Lord’s will.

5. Yielding to the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 ESV

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

When George Washington called the conscience “That celestial spark in your breast” I like to think he was referring to the Holy Spirit because I think that is a pretty good description. That divine spark that dwells on the inside of anyone who has a relationship with our Lord and Savior.

The comforter that was sent to us after Christ arose from the grave that helps us do the right things and make the right decisions so long as we are sensitive to that relationship with the Most High.

6. Having fellowship with each other.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

It is hard for us function as Christians without that fellowship with other believers. We need that support, we need that strength that we derive from spending time with others of a like mind.

Can you be a Christian without that fellowship? I believe you can. I often heard people say, “I feel closer to God out on the lake than I do in Church,” or I can worship the Lord just as easily from the golf course on Sunday morning as I can in Church. Perhaps that’s true but do you really think that fisherman on the lake or that golfer on the course is really concentrating on his relationship with the Lord out there on Sunday morning.

The real point is, if we desire to worship outside the fellowship of other believers, we are not really following the plan that the Lord set out for us.

Acts 2:42 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Clearly this verse is talking about that kind of fellowship that we only find in the company of other believers.

Conclusion

So, in the end, it is safe to let your conscience be your guide. It is if your conscience has been calibrated by scripture. If your value system is one that is based on scripture instead of some worldly moral code that is subject to the whims and fluctuations of the social environment and pop culture. Saturate your mind, your soul, and your spirit with God’s Word. Study it faithfully, practice what it teaches, and then let your conscience be your guide.