| Bible Study: How Is Your Conscience |
By: Evangelist W.C. “Dub” Dellinger
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If I should ask you what drove you to Christ in searching for forgiveness, most of you would say, “my sins were bothering me. I was just not satisfied in the way I was living. I wanted a better life.” Chances are there was a driving force that just kept telling you to start over and you did not know how. All the time you knew it was in you to live a cleaner life. You kept thinking about the Christian that talked with you about coming to church and told you what Jesus had done for him. He seemed to be so sure of himself. You wondered why that wouldn’t leave your mind. You probably kept thinking you were okay, but not really satisfied with the life you were living. Maybe you had been thinking about a change, but suddenly the urge was stronger. You longed for a clearer conscience.
Maybe that is what has been bothering me for the last while. You see, I know that my conscience is very sensitive to some things going on that are not right at all. Sometimes I even get my temper up about things that I know is wrong. I got a Bible the other day and looked for the word conscience. I could not find it in the Old Testament but it showed up in ten books of the New Testament.
John 8:9 speaks of “being convicted by their own conscience”. This tells me that our conscience surely must be a handy tool from God. I grew up hearing the words “let your conscience be your guide”. Acts 24:16 tells us to control ourselves always and have a clear conscience always toward both God and man. Romans 2:15-16 says in part “their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel”. And then Romans 9:1, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost”.
Our Bible also speaks about judging and why you judge for your conscience’s sake. As you study your Bible, you will find out that your strength, if you have any, comes through your conscience. Was it true when they wrote that a man could be mean for so long that he had no conscience? When I was a small boy, I saw a man get so mad that he walked by parked cars pounding them with his fist until there was blood running down his hand and arm.
The Bible points out that there are some that have a weak conscience and are easy to be defiled. With that in mind, we should take courage and build up a strong conscience as Brother Paul says “by bringing in the Holy Ghost- The Comforter. John 14:16 tells us that Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide withyou forever”. He is talking about the Holy Ghost and He says that no sinner can receive it. It is only given to the born again/saved saints of God. No born again Christian should ever go against his conscience when the judgement you are about to make concerns right or wrong. At times it may cost you money, it may cost you friends, but if it’s right, the Lord will bless and your soul will not be troubled.
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