One way to make sure you’re keeping your conscience clear—which is the internal judge within us that guides us in knowing right from wrong, even without reading the Scriptures—is by avoiding anything that makes you feel guilty or doubtful. The moment doubt enters and you’re unsure whether something is right or wrong, or the thought or act of doing it leaves you feeling guilty, ashamed, or like you need to hide it—unable to speak about it openly with your parents or any respected adult—those feelings alone are a red light warning system.
Even if no one has formally told you that an action is wrong, your body uses these feelings—guilt, shame, condemnation, the urge to hide—as signals to inform you that you’ve violated your conscience. Your conscience is your inner seat of judgment, helping you discern right from wrong.
God says that he has now written His laws—the dos and don’ts—on our hearts. Our conscience now sits as the judge within us, occupying the judgment seat of our soul. That inner judge helps keep a person on the straight and narrow, even without reading the Scriptures, because God’s moral law is inscribed on the heart. So, you can know what is right and wrong simply by listening to your conscience.
This is why Apostle Paul says that we must strive to keep a clear conscience. Whatever you do from a place of a clear conscience means that you are blameless. But when you know deep down that something doesn’t feel right, that unsettled feeling is a sign that what you’re doing is wrong.
Some people, however, choose to ignore those guilty feelings and persist in doing wrong. In doing so, they violate their conscience. They damage the judgment seat within them. Over time, this makes it harder for them to respond to God or receive Christ—they’ve dulled their internal traffic light system and destroyed the architecture of discernment.
A person with a clean conscience can boldly approach God, for “the righteous are as bold as a lion.” God’s judgment is greater than our conscience and stands above it—He can assess whether our conscience is judging rightly or wrongly. But each of us must still ensure that we maintain a clear conscience before Him at all times.
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God bless you.
