Just kidding. But if your conscience was speaking to you, what would it say?
Over the next three weeks, I’m going to talk to you about being conscious of your conscience. I want you to consciously think about your conscience.
We’re going to talk about three issues: What your conscience is, how it works, and why it matters.
What Is Your Conscience?
Let me begin by telling you what it is and what it isn’t—
1. Conscience is a “human thing,” it’s not something that plants & animals possess
God only gave human beings a conscience. Only people are capable of ‘moral choices’. You can’t sue a kitty cat or execute a gerbil for doing something wrong. Plants never “feel guilty”. They don’t have a conscience, so they don’t “feel” anything. When my wife’s marigolds died this summer, they weren’t depressed... they were just ‘dead.’ Animals can’t sin. Since my dog Hugo doesn’t have a conscience, he doesn’t FEEL BAD when he leaves my carpet a gift from his lower intestines. Plants and animals just don’t have a conscience, it’s a “human” thing.
2. Though the conscience is a “human thing,” it’s not just a “Christian” thing
Romans 2:14-15 tells us that everyone has a conscience, Christian or not. The conscience is a good thing, but it isn’t the best thing. It isn’t the same thing as the Holy Spirit or voice of God. All people have a conscience, but only Christians have the Holy Spirit too. Those who aren’t Christians only have their conscience, which is helpful, but not nearly as helpful in making right decisions as having God Himself living inside of you. The Holy Spirit works in believers by echoing God’s Will and acting as God’s Voice to Christians... but to Christians only.
Let me give you a simple description of the Conscience (mentioned 30 times in NT). It’s your soul’s “automatic warning system,” like a warning light on your car’s dashboard or on the computer. It’s automatic, like your body’s involuntary actions of breathing and blinking. You don’t have to even think about it... it just reacts to the stimuli it encounters.
