In Paul's letter to Timothy it mentions people who had rejected God's leadership and guidance in their lives and they paid no attention to the warnings of their conscience, and they ended up with "shipwrecked faith". (1Timothy 1:19). When something sparks our conscience that speaks of disobedience to God, we must reject that action, stop it right then and there; otherwise our conscience becomes impaired and it won't work right: and, if we keep ignoring the warning signs it will eventually stop working and then we will definitely be in trouble. We all know people who have no filters or have run aground in life. A shipwrecked faith is most assuredly going to happen when Believers ignore their conscience and they began to rationalize or defend their disobedience. We as Christians know it is far better to turn ourselves over to the great Captain of our soul Jesus Christ. He left the Holy Spirit here to guide us and He will guide us in the correct way.
My great grandmother, Jane West Davis, a slave until she was 5 years old, used to tell me as a child growing up to let my conscience be my guide. I didn't understand until I became a Christian what she meant: now it makes sense. You see, our conscience now being cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, is made to help us understand the difference between right and wrong. Can people always trust their internal conscience to lead them rightly? Yes, in the case of being a Christian, and no, being unsaved. The unsaved don't have the Holy Spirit to reveal to them the truth and offer them guidance to make wise decisions. Christians, on the other hand, have God's Spirit dwelling in us, but we should be careful not to hold on to sin because sin interferes with the way our conscience functions. Our conscience needs to be trustworthy and made fully responsible with scriptural teaching. As believers we must build a stable and sensitive spiritual conscience by applying Gods truth to our lives. We are committed to thinking and acting in ways that honor and pleases God because we are made in His image. So, when sinful thoughts or even choices come into our conscience it will give us a sharp warning. Christians that have a good strong and reliable conscience will have a strong desire to obey God instead of settling on what it looks like, or if it feels right and good to them; they will seek the Lords will. This is it plain and simple; we do not rely solely on our conscience but we will use all of the Holy Spirit's tools which includes Scripture and prayer in our daily lives, so when our conscience lets us know of our bad behavior or choices, we will be quick to draw back and reject them. Last and foremost, our conscience isn't designed to be our guide, it is the tool of the Guide, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only convicts us of sin, He also brings to our minds Godly principles and He leads us on a righteous path. Remember the Holy Spirit uses a lot of different tools to conform us to the likeness of Christ (Roman 8:29). Thank God for His Holy Spirit!
