What Can Give You a Clear Conscience?

Stress and anxiety often parallel each other. Can you imagine the stress and anxiety Adam and Eve felt realizing they had triggered God’s disfavor? They immediately went into hiding. Here is the first account of a lapse in judgment and bad choices that resulted in a clash with God’s rules.

Anxiety creates a "fight or flight" reaction. Adam and Eve chose flight by trying to hide from God’s response to their disobedience. Imagine their anxiety and shame as they tried to hide from God. To their credit, they came out to face him, which eventually reduced their stress and fear.

God explained the future for Adam and Eve, and they accepted. All human beings are subject to moral failure by disregarding his boundaries and what is acceptable to him. Yet God comes looking for you and will never fail to find you. God will give you the essentials to help your recovery so you can have a new beginning and a clear conscience.  

___________ 

You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.

~Proverbs 28:13 Good News Bible

___________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

So Why Should You Forgive?

It isn’t easy to forget an emotional wound that cut deeply and hurt so badly that it continuously feels active and new. Most people do not delight in reliving the past, yet it seems impossible to forget what was so painful. Forgiveness is possible even where hurt and anger are entrenched in your feelings and attitudes.

When you internalize anger and resentment, you turn these powerful emotions against yourself. These emotions damage your well-being by the stress they generate. By extending forgiveness to others, a wide range of benefits become available to you and the other person. Forgiveness is validated by actions and deeds.

Make up your mind to be forgiving for your own peace of mind and clear conscience. Forgiveness is made possible by believing God has forgiven you of every sin you’ve committed. God does not hold grudges, so follow his example by forgiving others. You will not regret it.   

___________ 

Jesus said: Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you. Don’t be hard on others, and God won’t be hard on you. Forgive others, and God will forgive you.

~Luke 6:37 Contemporary English Version

 

My prayer for you, my very dear friend, is that you may be as healthy and prosperous in every way as you are in soul.

~3 John 1:2 Phillips – New Testament in Modern English

____________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

Build a Bridge to a Clear Conscience

It's difficult to comprehend the influence that our language and behaviors ultimately have on others and ourselves. To accept that every word spoken has some lasting positive or negative affect is an awesome responsibility to shoulder. Is it correct to say we haven’t given much time to reflect on this truth?

Listen to the words of Jesus from Matthew 12: “For out of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, while the evil man brings out the evil stored up in him. But I tell you this: you will give an account on the Day of Judgement for every careless, thoughtless word you have spoken."

Here’s the Good News. You store up good in your heart by permitting Jesus to transform you into a person with a clean heart. This builds a bridge to a clear conscience for standing before God, whom you will face in eternity. What better objective is there than the desire to possess a clean heart?       

____________ 

The goal of this instruction is love that flows from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith.

~1 Timothy 1:5 International Standard Version

____________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

Forgiveness Revisited

When C. S. Lewis lay dying, his final thoughts were on forgiveness. He was struggling to forgive a cruel and harsh elementary teacher from his childhood. He had forgiven this individual as a young man and again as a middle-aged adult and now felt compelled to complete the task before he breathed his final breath.

What is incredibly important to understand about C. S. Lewis’ experience is that forgiveness is being completed at various stages throughout life. C. S. Lewis could never forget the trauma he experienced from this teacher. He understood that the only way to let go of the bitterness was to forgive him for the pain he felt so deeply.

It's often at the crossroads of adult development where forgiveness needs to be revisited. God’s wisdom and compassion aid us in forgiving at a deeper level. As Lewis lay dying, he again offered forgiveness to the person responsible for his suffering. The Holy Spirit brings to our awareness what needs to be forgiven so we can have a clear conscience.  

________________________

It is truly wonderful when the people of God live together in peace.

~Psalm 133:1 Contemporary English Version

When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won’t give up in despair. You should make them sure of your love for them.

~2 Corinthians 2:7-8 Contemporary English Version

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

~2 Corinthians 13:11 New International Version

Clear Fear from Your Conscience

Jacob was extremely troubled by the risk of losing Benjamin, whose mother had died giving birth to him. It's understandable that Jacob would be protective of Benjamin since he had been forced to come to terms with having lost Benjamin's brother Joseph some years earlier. Now Jacob was forced to trust his older sons to safeguard Benjamin as they traveled to Egypt to buy grain.

 

Arriving in Egypt, they were invited to a luncheon with Joseph, where Benjamin, Joseph’s full-brother, was the guest of honor. Once again, the money paid for the grain was put back into their bags along with Joseph’s special silver cup. Benjamin would later be accused of stealing this cup.

Seeking reconciliation is a delicate undertaking. Imagine Joseph thinking that he had one chance to unite his family, made up of the ten jealous brothers who hated him. God calls us to reconcile with whomever has wronged us. God is aware of and patient with our resistance, knowing we’re stressed out with fear and anxiety, yet he continues to push us toward reconciliation and new beginnings. Your spiritual health and clear conscience depend on it.  

__________________________

For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them.

~2 Timothy 1:7 The Living Bible

There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life – fear of death, fear of judgment – is one not yet fully formed in love.

~1 John 4:18 The Message

Crisis! Redemption or Stagnation?

Jacob, the youngest son of Rebekah and Isaac spent decades honing his skills in manipulating, deceiving, and being a fraud. Jacob needed redemption but was reluctant to accept it. He would have to experience severe crises to make the transition. Genesis 28 presents his first major crisis. With his mother’s help, he stole his brother’s blessing.

 

To escape Esau’s plan to kill him, Jacob’s mother sent him to Haran to live with her brother. On the way he stopped for the night, lay down to sleep and had a dream that proved to be the beginning of his redemption. It was his first personal encounter with the Lord God. A severe crisis can weaken a person’s resistance to God’s intervention.

 

The issue is that God intervenes even when we’re undeserving and have severely messed up our lives. As Jacob slept, he dreamed God spoke a message of reassurance and hope to him, a chance for a new beginning with a clear conscience. God gave him the opportunity to build a bridge to a different lifestyle, and he will do that for you.

Building Bridges

What do you visualize when you hear the word bridge? Bridges go back in history thousands of years. the Romans and Greeks were great designers and engineers in bridge construction. Some of those structures are still standing and daily serve the public. Bridges are such a part of our everyday life, we rarely give them consideration. 

Have you ever thought of love being a bridge that connects one person to another? Love never gives up when hard, difficult times come to visit. Love keeps believing when all systems seem to fail, when a chasm is so deep and wide no human endeavor appears creative enough to bridge the gap. Yet love will find a way when everything else fails.

As a young child, I memorized a three-word verse from the Bible, “God is love.” When I have sinned, God’s love serves as a bridge to a clear conscience and a clean heart. I realize I must choose to walk across that bridge to receive God’s forgiveness. Even then, the Spirit of the living God prompts and nudges me onward to begin the crossing.  

Conscience, Courage and Confidence - Part 1

Without exception, it takes unusual courage to give God permission to direct your life. God told Noah to build the ark, gather animals and wait for earth to be flooded. Moses left his family and safety to confront the most powerful man on earth and demand that he free the Hebrew people.

Courage connected to a healthy conscience, coupled with confidence that God directs your life, generates assurance that any task can be accomplished. A clear conscience produces courage to tackle with confidence whatever you believe to be God’s will for you.

Listen to this request to God found in an eleventh century hymnal:  

God be in my head, and my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and my looking;

God be in my mouth, and my speaking;

God be in my heart, and my thinking;

God be at my end, and my departing.

With God occupying these areas of your life, you are assured of a clear conscience and success in what you choose to do.  

Follow God's Searchlight: Your Conscience - Part 3

Personal freedom depends on having courage to follow the conscience, which isn’t easy to do. Threat of personal embarrassment, peer pressure, or the need for acceptance may result in failure to heed the voice of conscience. When the voice of conscience makes you aware of wrongdoing or sin and you obey, you feel stronger and more self-assured.

Failure to follow your conscience eventually culminates in the loss of personal freedom. A man confided that when he was an adolescent he became indebted to a store owner in his small community. Time elapsed and he failed to pay the debt. Shame stole away a chunk of his integrity. The store owner died and the debt remained unpaid.

Our conscience pushes for right to be done, for amends to be made, apologies to be spoken, and forgiveness to be sought after and given. Courage is the avenue to a clear conscience. Listen to 1 John 3:21. “If our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage before God and will receive from him whatever we ask.” What a wonderful promise! 

Follow God's Searchlight: Your Conscience - Part 2

Hermann Goering, commandant of the German Air Force in World War II, proclaimed: “I have no conscience. My conscience is Adolph Hitler.” Goering committed suicide after being found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg. Goering’s testimony demonstrates the danger of invalidating the conscience and sinking into depravity.

While it’s important to have a mentor or leader whom we can respect and who serves as a point of light, no human being should be allowed to become your conscience. Blindly trusting another person to have all the right answers and always to have your complete respect eventually disappoints, for no person is perfect enough to substitute for your conscience.

A person who obeys his or her conscience will be blessed and rewarded by God himself, as David experienced in 1 Samuel 24. Here David listened to and obeyed his conscience. David knew God’s will and purpose and that choosing to follow God’s plan would result in receiving God’s blessings and a clear conscience. This can be your choice.  

A Clear Conscience: Essential for Self-Respect - Part 3

What is the relationship between your conscience, the values you keep, and self-respect? I read an article about a young police officer who was assigned to drug enforcement. He served earnestly until, in a moment of weakness, he experimented with cocaine, which in turn evolved into a full-fledged addiction. He disregarded his conscience, which cheapened his self-respect.

What went wrong with his conscience that allowed this officer to take such a drastic turn in his behavior? He was aware of the consequences he’d experience later down the road. Why didn’t his conscience stop him from experimenting with cocaine in the first place? Surely his conscience made him aware of the wrong choices he was making.

Obviously, your conscience can be over-ridden and denied the power to stop disaster. Even so, your conscience doesn’t give up because God uses it to help you turn away from sin, even when self-respect is stuck in the gutter. Jesus is interested in your redemption and beckons you to turn around and come back to him, so why not do it now? 

A Clear Conscience: Essential for Self-Respect - Part 2

Samuel, the last judge to rule the people of Israel, was a man of constant faith and unrelenting readiness to take appropriate action whatever the circumstance. As a man of integrity, he had respect for his people, an essential virtue for effective leadership. He saw his nation through a transitional phase of leadership styles.

Samuel was incorruptible and served God as a man of unbendable faith. The foundation for his faith and actions was an unquestionable belief that he was chosen by God to be a judge and priest as well as a role model for future leaders. Samuel unhesitatingly carried out what God directed him to do, regardless of how drastic it seemed to others.

A clear conscience is essential for self-respect and good judgement, yet everyone is vulnerable to violating their conscience. However, sincere acknowledgment of sins, confession of those sins to Christ Jesus, and seeking forgiveness will cleanse the conscience. Making amends is crucial, for it honors God and builds self-respect.  

A Clear Conscience: Essential for Self-Respect - Part 1

Samuel served as the last judge for Israel. He was also a prophet, a man of faith and loyalty who founded the first school for young prophets and preacher boys. He led his people through a transition from a theocracy rule to a monarchy rule because the people demanded a king. Samuel anointed Saul and David, Israel’s first two kings.

In 1 Samuel 8:7 God directed Samuel to comply with the people’s demands. These are God’s words to Samuel: “Listen to what the people are saying; it is not you they have rejected. They have rejected me as their king.” Samuel was respected by the people because he was a man of character. Still they were determined to have a king.

Faith requires action, and action based on strong moral character is sustained by faith. Samuel, as a man of faith, remained true to his word and commitments. He never looked for special favors because that would have diminished his self-respect. His life was an open book. Samuel could be a mentor for each of us to follow.  

Self-Respect in the Family: Hannah to Samuel - Part 2

Samuel grew up under the care of Eli, who was the priest and judge over Israel. Each year as Samuel grew Hannah, his mother, brought him a new little robe to wear.  God was gracious to Hannah because she was willing to give up her only child to serve God. While Samuel was still a boy God called his name, and Samuel responded to God’s call.

Samuel was gifted with strong moral character, demonstrating his commitment to the Lord. Samuel eventually took Eli’s place as judge and priest over Israel. Samuel’s God-given insight and understanding on how to be a man of integrity enabled him to endure the temptations he would encounter as a judge and priest.

Samuel kept a clear conscience, which enabled him to choose appropriate, godly actions both as a judge and in his personal life. Moral character strengths enable believers to endure and stand firm with what is right and godly. Choosing to act appropriately and then choosing to follow through with your choice will be blessed and honored by God. 

         

Insight: God's Light for Values - Part 2

The essentials for effective change are insight, endurance and action, and usually develop slowly in separate stages but may occur simultaneously. Insight generates honesty with oneself and then stands with what is right and with authentic moral decisions. Insight serves as a bridge to value formation and clarification.

Values lay the groundwork for the development of self-respect and are incompatible with guilt, shame and disgust with oneself. God does forgive our sins when we confess, repent and express faith in Christ Jesus. Self-respect is a product of a clear conscience and is strengthened by refusing to take the easy way through life's challenges.

Ephesians 5:22 identifies self-control as a fruit of the Spirit. So, insight is God’s enlightenment that helps us make healthy choices. Self-respect derives from a clear conscience and aids us in choosing the narrow way that leads to life now and for eternity. The challenge is both difficult and rewarding.