without offense toward God and men."
Acts 24:16
The boy came to his mother to confess that he had disobeyed her. He wanted her to forgive him. She told him that he was forgiven. Then, she asked him, "Why did you tell me? If you hadn't told me, I probably would never have known." He said, "I know mother, but I was feeling bad on the inside and now I feel good again." That's called conscience. God has given us the ability to know the difference between right and wrong. Will we hear our conscience?
The Bible has much to say about conscience. God has enabled all people to know the difference between right and wrong. The problem is that we can refuse to listen to our own conscience. We can even numb the conscience, and it becomes callous to the truth. Thereby we harden our hearts against the truth of God. We "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). As a result, our hearts become hardened toward God. Then we "exchange the truth of God for a lie" (Romans 1:25). The dangers of not hearing the conscience are many. The results are always the same toward God and men.
Conscience is an important part of our prayer life. We know the sins that we need to confess to God through the voice of conscience. We know the things that God wants us to do through conscience. The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts through the voice of conscience. The apostle Paul testified that "my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 9:1). The Holy Spirit is communicating with us. Hear your conscience.
Father, may the Holy Spirit use our conscience to guide us.
