Ever dealt with these thoughts: “Should you have or NOT have done IT?” “Now that IT is over, was it right or wrong?” “Oh I wish I HAD… or had NOT done IT!” “Now that IT is over, how do I get rid of the guilt of my mistake?”
Much is written in Scripture about our conscience. The conscience is… for believers… the Holy Spirit driving us to repentance, godly living, and holiness. My posts for a few days are meditations on a few pertinent passages regarding our conscience. I pray you will use these in your quiet times
Romans 2:14 When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Everyone has a conscience placed in them by God. Believers and unbelievers alike. It is a residual of God injecting His Image into mankind (Gen 1:26-27). Thus societies naturally know things like lying, stealing, and murder are morally wrong. Yet the conscience of man is a fragile thing, easily shaped by the human will when it is not informed by external truth (Scripture).
From the time of Adam and Eve, God’s implanted conscience in man has warned against evil and sin. There have been times when man followed his conscience and repented. Then man has been warned and continued on into sin. Some have ignored their conscience so as to render it ineffective (Dead). The question for me is this… do I have a healthy, Biblical informed conscience? If not, what can be done to change it? Is it possible to recognize having what the Bible calls a “seared conscience?” If so, how?
In Romans 2:14-16 those who seem not to be saved have “conflicting thoughts.” This could be the war Paul described in Romans 7. It could be the battle between a healthy conscience and what they want to do. It seems that the battle of the conscience can protect OR justify and rationalize what they want to do… which results in their decision… leading to the great day of judgment before God one day.
Thus my examination of the conscience has eternal implications. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will guide me in this study to examine myself for the purposes of repentance and holiness… if He so wills.