What does the word "conscience" mean? What is the definition? The Webster dictionary states that, "It is the sense of consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or to be good. The part of the mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong". God has put the knowledge of Himself in the heart of every human being. We all know in our heart that God does exist. This is why the Bible says, that the fool has said in his heart there is no God. (Psalm 14:1). We were created to worship God and God alone. But because of sin, our conscience had become tainted and we didn't even recognize Who God is. We worship false gods, and even make up our own gods to worship. That is why until we come to Jesus and allow His cleansing Blood to clean our conscience, it can't be trusted. "How much more, then, will the Blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" Hebrews 9:14.
Our conscience is like a radar system meant to send warnings when a behavior or a decision might be harmful to us. Everyone of us has had such warnings throughout our lives. This is what makes it possible for us to be able to recognize between what's right and what's wrong, especially when it is applied to our own life. We perish for lack of understanding and knowledge, as a good friend of mine often reminds me; we also perish because we ignore our conscience. In a Christian's life our conscience is a tool for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit programs our conscience with laws and facts of conduct in God's Word and sharpens it to respond quickly. The purpose of our conscience is to send a signal and what happens next is really up to us. We read in the Scriptures over and over again, where Jesus said, "He that hath an ear let him hear." That "hear" means, hear and obey. Jesus speaks to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit speaks to us that which Jesus has said to Him. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our conscience; and it is up to us whether we hear and obey, or reject what we have heard.
There are two choices we have concerning our conscience. Number one, either we ignore the warning or number two, we stop and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say in every situation. The Holy Spirit's job is to reveal God's will or remind us of His laws, His rules of conduct, so we can make wise decisions about the warning signals we get from our conscience. But we have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to hear Him. He is not going to drop a ton of bricks on our head to get our attention. We must learn through reading the Word of God and staying in prayer and fasting. The more we do that, the more we will know when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. Then we can trust our conscience and make the right decisions.
