John 16 Devotional
Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide?
“Take the straight and narrow path, and if you start to slide, give a little whistle, and always let your conscience be your guide.” -Jiminy Cricket
You’ve probably heard this famous quote from the great philosopher and Disney character Jiminy Cricket, and in fact, it has become the driving force to much of our society. But is following your conscience actually good advice?
Conscience is defined as : “An inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.”
It sounds like great advice! Most of us, Christian or not, want to be "good people." And I know that even before I was a Christian, my conscience probably kept me from making some pretty bad decisions. But can our consciences actually be trusted? Well that depends!
If you really think about it, your conscience is a very subjective thing. So many factors come into play in the development of each of our consciences. Our upbringing, life experiences, advice/opinions of friends or people we respect, education, social pressures, and even political influence and the media all try to tell us what is considered right and wrong.
To one person, something that would be considered very wrong would instead be considered acceptable to another person. I think our current political situation proves this to be true. Think of the many social and political issues that we are faced with today. There are often two extreme sides to many of the issues, with each group being fully convinced that their stance is good, while the other side’s is nothing short of bad, and often even condemned as evil!
If we act solely on our conscience, it is ourselves or other humans that judge our behavior to be good or bad, right or wrong. There are many non-Christians who we would consider to have a “good conscience.”
“They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them.
-Romans 2:15
Likewise, there are many Christians who appear to have a bad one or even no conscience at all! This is the problem with following your conscience. The standards for good and bad, right and wrong, are put into place and pressed upon us by fallible humans. God never intended for our conscience to be our guide. He intends for Holy Spirit to be our guide.
“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” -John 16:8-11
Concerning sin: Humans have a strong tendency toward sin….all of us. Each time we sin, we tend to find it a little easier to ignore our conscience, especially if the world is telling us, “Oh it’s really not that bad,” or even, “That’s not really a sin.” The Holy Spirit convicts us about the sin in our hearts.
Concerning righteousness: Jesus was referring to his own righteousness in this passage. His return to the Father proved his complete righteousness, and when we compare the righteousness in our lives to the righteousness of Jesus, we will surely be convicted of our sinfulness. The Holy Spirit reveals this to us.
Concerning judgement: When we do become aware of our sinfulness in contrast with Jesus’ righteousness, it becomes evident to us through conviction of the Holy Spirit that we are deserving of God’s judgement.
When we respond to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in regards to our sin, our righteousness (or lack thereof), and the judgement that we realize we deserve, we should find ourselves at a place of true and deep repentance. Through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts and our lives are changed…. and so is our conscience.
As RC Sproul sums up so well:
"It was Jiminy Cricket who said, 'Always let your conscience be your guide.' This is good advice if our conscience is informed and ruled by the Word of God. However, if our conscience is ignorant of Scripture or has been seared or hardened by repeated sin, then Jiminy Cricket theology is disastrous." -- RC Sproul (Essential Truths of the Christian Faith)
Don't make the mistake of allowing worldly influences to shape and determine your views on right and wrong behaviors and actions. A conscience that has been transformed and is directed by the Holy Spirit is your only trustworthy guide. ❤️
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