Does your conscience ever bother you? It's a good thing to have a sensitive conscience. God made you that way. When you do wrong, you know it. No one needs to tell you. When you do what is right, your conscience is at peace.
The problem is that all of us do the wrong thing from time to time. Then, we can heed a guilty conscience or ignore it. If we ignore it, the voice of conscience is weakened. It becomes easier to do the wrong thing. We can even totally ignore our conscience and silence it.
A guilty conscience is a moral barometer telling us that we are moving into a risky area. God does not want us to live with guilt nor shame. He wants us to admit that we have done wrong and turn from it. When we confess our guilt, and turn from the wrong direction, peace returns.
"Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things" (Hebrews 13:18, ESV). When we pray for God to direct our lives, we must listen to our conscience. When we are living in God's will, our conscience will be clear.
When the conscience is not clear, it's time to confess or agree with God about our sin. God will cleanse our conscience. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, ESV). Confession of sin results in a clear conscience before God.
