conscience

The Bible is full of old words, many of which we no longer use in normal conversation. I was struck by one of those today, one I hadn’t realized until now had fallen out of usage.

I was reading about Paul’s defense of himself before Felix. Here’s part of what he said, from Acts 24:14-16: “‘However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.’”

And there that old-fashioned word is: conscience. It’s that thing that helps us discern right and wrong. When I was younger, that word came up a lot. “Let your conscience be your guide.” “How can she sleep with that on her conscience.” “He’s suffering from a guilty conscience.”

This morning, I can’t think of the last time I heard someone use the word conscience. And I wonder why not.

I get it that it’s human nature to try to get away with things, to do what pleases us and, if it’s not a good thing, to just try not to get caught. That’s not a new thing; it’s been around forever. But when did doing the wrong things stop bothering us? Have our consciences been so deadened that they no longer register right and wrong? Are expediency and indulgence so much a part of us now that ethics and morality are secondary?

It strikes me that a sensitive conscience is a great blessing. Paul kept his conscience that way by staying close to the source of all goodness, the very standard of right and wrong: God. And then he used his Spirit-guided conscience as the measurement of his activity. As a result, it took lies and false charges to get him into trouble. There wasn’t anything legitimately bad they could say about Paul.

I wonder how different life would be if my primary goal was to end each day with a clean conscience, one that was clear before God and man? Would I make different choices?