“Conscience is the impulse to do right because it is right, regardless of personal ends” (Margaret C. Graham).
NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT OUR CONSCIENCE DOESN’T TEST US. Some of the tests are big while others are little, but the question is always the same: “Will we do what our conscience tells us is right, or will we do something else, perhaps something less difficult or more pleasant?” These tests, however insignificant they may seem, are important for two reasons: they demonstrate what kind of character we presently have, and they move our character further down one path or the other: either the path of goodness or that of evil. Every time we say yes or no to our conscience, we add a little more evidence to the record that will someday be our legacy.
Joy. If you’ve never experienced the joy that comes from saying yes to your conscience, you really ought to try it. “A good conscience is a continual Christmas” (Benjamin Franklin). I’ve lived in the world long enough to have enjoyed many of its pleasures, but I’ve yet to find one that compares to the good feeling of going to bed at night knowing you’ve done what your conscience said was right.
Stability. There is no way to tell what any of us will have to deal with before our lives are over. If we haven’t already done so, some of us may experience significant and unexpected hardship, and we may think we can’t find anything steady to hang on to. But a clear conscience is an amazingly stable thing, despite the twists and turns of life in this vale of tears. “There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course, a quiet conscience” (Euripides).
We admire those who, in the great hours of historical crisis, have taken a heroic stand on the basis of conscience. Most of us, however, will never stand in the spotlight of history, and even if we did, our moment there might not be the most accurate measure of our character. A truer indication of that would be whether we listen to our conscience in the quiet, personal moments — those times when God alone knows what we’ve chosen. Faced with such private decisions (which, in the real world, can be extremely complex), we should never do anything less than what is right — just because it’s right.
“I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other, so help me God. Amen” (Martin Luther).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
