How’s the condition of your conscience? It’s been said that a clear conscience is a soft pillow. As the Apostle Paul gave his defense before Felix, he was diligent to declare that he had a blameless conscience before God and men:

In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men. (Acts 24:16)

Paul’s statement, in view of this, refers to his belief that there would be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. Paul knew his deeds would become evident, if not in this life, then in the life to come. For the believer, Paul was mindful that the foundation and the true motive of his deeds would be revealed:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

The Greek word that Paul used to do one’s best, conveys the idea to exert diligence and to strive after a goal. This word was used to describe the physical training of athletes, and we derive our English word ascetic from this Greek word. The word blameless literally means without offense, without stumbling, or not causing others to stumble or fail.

Our conscience is an inner sense of what is right or wrong with a view toward impelling one toward right action. This word literally means with knowledge and it may or not be reliable depending how one’s conscience has been shaped. We have a responsibility to train our conscience to be aligned with God’s word.

To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. (Titus 1:15)

A godly conscience does not ask, “Is it popular, but rather, “Is it right?” We may have a tendency to assuage our conscience with rationalization and excuses, but that is like giving sleeping pills to a watchdog. Our conscience won’t necessarily keep us from doing what we shouldn’t, but it will let us know when we’ve gone astray. Paul could boldly declare that his conscience was blameless both before God and before men. Can you say the same? As we draw close to God, He can bring His cleansing touch to our conscience:

let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)

Rick Higgins

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark