“Always let your conscience be your guide!” This was the advice from Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s classic Pinocchio, but its not entirely correct. While conscience is a key way in which the Holy Spirit convicts of sin in our lives, it can also be misused and misunderstood. The feeling of guilt can lay a powerful burden on us. God does use this part of our human nature to prick our hearts in order that we might repent and turn back to Him. On the other hand, there are times when we either ignore and dull our conscience or allow it to become over-sensitized, taking blame upon ourselves that is not from true conviction. In these cases, our conscience can betray our trust, bring us down, and actually prevent us from doing the right thing.

The Apostle Paul wrote about the need for a clear or good conscience on multiple occasions including Acts, Romans, Corinthians as well as while instructing his protégé Timothy. The writer of Hebrews echoes this same need for a proper conscience before the Lord as well as Peter in his epistles. Understanding the proper place for our conscience is a key part of our walk with Christ. As mentioned above, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to convict men of sin (John 16:7-8) and the primary means for us to be confronted with the guilt of our sin is through our conscience. (John 8:9)

However, each person’s conscience is not tuned in to the same sensitivity setting. For some, the dial is turned way up and their conscience has become overly sensitive. This type of conscience places blame unnecessarily for things that are beyond their control. They are burdened and feel guilt about relationships that they can not fix or the inadvertent and unintentional consequences of their actions that have hurt others. Sometimes they even allow their conscience to falsely accuse of sin. This was the case in the early church when some felt that eating meat sacrificed to idols was a sin. Paul writes, “some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.” (1 Corinthians 8:7) In this case, what was not an actual sin before God became a sin because of an overly sensitized conscience. Paul affirms this to the Romans: “He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) The point here is that we need to be aware of what God’s Word says about the situations we face so that our consciences can be informed and “dialled in” to the proper level of sensitivity.

For other people (and I believe this is likely the majority), our consciences have become desensitized. A dull conscience can be deadly for the Christian. Paul warns Timothy to hold on to “faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” (1 Timothy 1:19) It is possible to make a real “shipwreck” of our lives and our walk with the Lord if we aren’t sensitive to God’s conviction of sin in our lives. This is going to become even more prevalent as we get nearer to the end times. Paul writes, “some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). This dire warning shows just how far down the wrong path we can go if we allow ourselves to run roughshod over the still, small voice of God’s conviction in our lives.

So, yes, let your conscience be your guide – but let it be a conscience informed by God’s Word. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) This includes the ability to keep our conscience in check and at the right level of sensitivity to sin. If you are placing improper blame upon yourself, evaluate your guilt in light of God’s Word. There is freedom, grace, and forgiveness to be found in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, if you have taken your liberty in Christ too far and don’t ever seem to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life, take a hard look at yourself in the mirror of God’s Word. It will reveal to you just how far from holiness you may have strayed.