CONSCIENCE

“Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe?  Expediency asks the question, Is it politic?  Vanity asks the question, Is it popular?  But conscience asks the question, Is it right?  And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”   Martin Luther

Does anyone have a conscience anymore?  Do we still use them?  Do we value them?  Do we ignore them?  We used to say, “Let your conscience be your guide”, as if that would be enough to thwart wrong decisions or behavior.   We believed that our conscience was God’s gift to us to help navigate life in a morally pleasing way.  Our conscience would always be consistent with the moral law of God and would kick in when we violated that law or were even thinking about it.  But is conscience that dependable anymore?  Does it still function as God designed?   Is it possible we have diminished its role and importance and let our beliefs and actions be influenced by the cry and din of our culture’s call for tolerance and relativism?  For so many of today’s Americans the conscience has gotten buried under expediency, cowardice or popularity.  Seldom does it seem to be used in determining what is right and wrong.  Two people may hold diametrically opposed views or beliefs and neither feels any “check” in their conscience that what they believe is wrong.  Recently our president came out publicly to endorse same sex marriage.   There are those who applaud him, others who deplore him.   Did conscience figure into his announcement?  What role does conscience play in our lives anyway?

Our conscience stays sharp and honed when we stay close to God’s word, know and reinforce his teachings, and are committed to do right.   For the Christian we get our convictions of right and wrong from the Bible, God’s trustworthy revelation to mankind.   We develop convictions based on those timeless truths that are to guide how we relate to God, each other and this earth.  Our conscience will be consistent with our commitment to God’s truth, even when it is not safe, politic or popular.  It’s time to unbury it and give it voice.