Listen To Your Conscience

One of the keys to enjoying life is listening to your conscience. God gave us a conscience for a very good reason: to use it. When we are not sure of a certain action our conscience will let us know if we are on the right path. If we believe one thing but do something else, our conscience will not allow us to have peace and contentment.

We need to respond to our conscience while it is still tender and not hardened. You see, over time if you and I don't listen to our conscience it will get harder to respond to it because we are so used to just doing what we want and not listening to our conscience. Can you remember a time in your life when you did something that you knew you shouldn't? How did you feel? You probably didn't have much peace or contentment. But as you kept on doing the action did you notice that you didn't feel bad anymore? The action became easier to do because your conscience became hardened probably to the point of justifying the action. An old illustration talks about how a horse will go wild when it hears a gun shot. But if it is continually around gun shots it doesn't respond as wild anymore. That is a great illustration of how God will try to get our attention through our conscience, and we feel bad, but if we keep on doing the wrong action we don't even notice our conscience trying to tell us the action is wrong.

Billy Graham says, "Most of us follow our conscience as we follow a wheelbarrow. We push it in front of us in the direction we want to go." This is a big mistake. Yet all of us, on occasion, have failed to listen to the voice that God has planted in our hearts. What happened when we did this? We had to suffer the consequences. As I think back over my life I wish I had listened to my conscience more than I did. Oh the trouble I could have spared myself and others. Maybe you can relate. I thank God that even though there were times I had to suffer the consequences for not listening to my conscience, He still has been full of grace and mercy.

Even though there are still times that I don't listen, and mess up and do what I want to do. I would rather go through life listening to God and doing what He wants me to. When I realize I have messed up, I confess to Him and ask His forgiveness and try to respond in obedience. Because I want to have a tender conscience.

So today let's make certain that our actions are guided by God's Word and by the conscience that He has placed in our heart. Josh Billings says," Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does." Another thing for us to remember is to not treat our faith as if it were separate from everyday life. God doesn't just speak or guide us at church. He is constantly trying to help us into the right decisions. Let us respond to God's voice. Charles Stanley says, "Your conscience is your alarm system. It's your protection."

Blessed are those who have a tender conscience, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble.
                          Proverbs 28:14 NLT

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