conscience, the voice within

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Perhaps it’s because it will always tell us what is right, and sometimes we don’t want to do the right thing. Sometimes it’s hard to get the nerve to do what is right, and sometimes we don’t want to expend the effort. Also there are times when we may feel the “peer pressure” from our colleagues or from our friends or neighbors, or maybe we don’t feel like it would be “politically correct", or acceptable by the masses, if we choose the course that our conscience prods us to choose.

What happens when we do not pay attention to our conscience? Does it usually end well for us when we don’t, or not so much? Maybe reflect on the last time you said, “I wish I had done, or said that, but at the time I just didn’t do what I felt I should do.” 

Sometimes upon reflection, we might say, “I wish I had done, or said something about it.” This is often the case when we ignore the inner “nudges” that our conscience gives us. But it’s not always easy to know what, or when, the right time is to do something about the matter, or to speak up about it, or, just to remain still, and silent.

And then there is the risk of our conscience becoming dulled, or rather our mind becoming dulled to our inner spirit, or conscience.

This can be much like working with your hands. If you work with your hands, especially in an environment where we’re dealing with rough surfaces, if we don’t protect our hands with the proper coverings, (gloves, etc.), then it’s very likely that we will develop calluses. Regarding our conscience, these figurative calluses can cause us to not feel what we need to feel. When that happens, we have jeopardized our sensitivity and risk hurting ourselves or others.

So while it’s important to listen to our inner voice, if we do not listen, and we do this repeatedly, then we will become desensitized to what our spirit is telling us, and that is very dangerous. 

Nothing good ever comes from doing the wrong thing.

God Himself can cause us to become desensitized over time, if we choose to ignore the promptings of His Holy Spirit, which is our conscience. He will let us experience the consequences of the choices we make. He will not force us to heed the Holy Spirit, our conscience, if we do not want to. He loves us enough to let us make our own choices, whether right or wrong. He also knows that when we choose to ignore our conscience, and not to, or to do, whatever our inner spirit tells us that we should do, that we will experience the pain, or cause pain to others that can be long lasting. 

Ignoring your conscience has consequences!

And, God knows that we can change our ways, once we’ve seen the error of them, and repent, and come back to His ways. And, He has said that He will forgive us, if we seek His forgiveness. However this process of getting rid of our callused heart and once again listening to the inner promptings of our conscience can take a while; just as it took a while for us to dull our sensitivity to our conscience, by ignoring it.  

We should love ourselves and our fellowman enough to pay attention to our conscience and follow its promptings and gentle nudges, do the right thing, and live in truth and freedom!